Purifying Flames
by deadly-chronicles
Summary: In order to save her from her relentless pursuers, Irie Shoichi pushed her off a cliff and aimed a bazooka at her, sending her to another era. She woke up confused seeing a different surrounding, but most of all, a different time...
1. Chapter 1

**Title: Purifying Flames.**

**Summary: In order to save her from her pursuers, Irie Shoichi threw her off a cliff and aimed a bazooka at her, sending her to another era. When she woke up, she was confused seeing different surrounding, but most importantly, a different time...**

**Set 6 years later. So Chrome should be 19.**

**Idk the permanent genre for this yet. Putting romance first but might not be a lot. Kinda depends... Idk.**

**A/N: I wanted to save this to be my 50th fic, but heck the idea had been haunting me. I wanted to write a 1896 one shot, but can't. I wanted to update Learning Emotions, but can't, so I shall just publish this. Enjoy? Deadly-chronicles is rather down right now.**

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**Purifying Flames**

_by deadly-chronicles_

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She ran down the slippery dark road, her breathing uneven and heavy, her eyes confused. Flashes of lightning illuminate the sky giving her just enough light for her to see what's in front. She clutched her lower abdomen, wincing in pain as blood continued to gush out from her wound. The rain poured heavily, purifying the ground that had been tainted by her blood that seeped down as she ran.

She accidentally slipped causing her to stumble forward to the ground, the cold hard ground piercing exactly where her gashes were. For how long she had been running, she had no idea.

Gritting her teeth in pain, she forced herself up and continued running even though her legs were failing and her consciousness was slowly fading.

The thunder roared angrily and merciless, shocking her and sending shivers down her small frame. She fell on her knees and seeing how her wound was opening, and how the blood was gushing out freely, Chrome mentally cursed herself. Her vision was beginning to blur when she felt someone pulling her up.

"Chrome-san, we need to go. _They're_ catching up!"

She looked up, dazed at her apparent saviour. She forced her vision to clear up and saw the bespectacled redhead looking worriedly at her.

"Irie…Shoichi?" she murmured weakly.

"Hurry! We need to go! _They're_ coming! We can't let them catch you." he repeated apprehensively, the fear clearly seen in his eyes.

Chrome nodded, albeit weakly, and she forced her legs to move, ignoring the pain her deep fatal wound was giving her.

"W-Wait…" she said. Taking out her trident, she summoned whatever Mist Flames she could using her last remaining energy to conceal their presences.

Looking at her thankfully, his left hand grabbed her right hand while his right shielded a pink bazooka protectively.

The two then continued running, not knowing where they were heading. They just ran, knowing that they need to get far away from the relentless pursuers, pursuers that were not even human, and pursuers that were after _her._

Both panted heavily, and Irie Shouchi felt her hands had become colder. He tried not to panic, his head tried to think of an escape plan but none appeared.

"Oh _Kami-sama_, let luck be on our side," he pleaded.

He halted to a stop and his eyes widened in exasperation seeing the dead end before him. They were now at the edge of a cliff, and there's no other way around except to turn _back._

But he knew that there was no turning back for it would be_ suicide._

"_Think Shoichi, think!" _he helplessly thought to himself.

He looked back and heard the rustling trees and it could only mean that the pursuers were getting nearer. He turned his attention to Chrome who could barely stand now due to the massive blood loss. Her face was pale and her wound was now bigger. The illusion she had used to conceal them had now lost it effect as the user was extremely weakened.

"Irie Shoichi… I'm sorry…" Chrome gurgled.

He then looked at the pink bazooka he was shielding, something which he had been working on for years, and knowing that there was no where else to go, he knew there was only one thing he could do.

The bazooka was not yet tested and it could only send one person somewhere else, but in this situation, he had no choice. He couldn't let her get caught.

He pulled Chrome towards the edge of the cliff and her eyes widened in confusion.

"Irie… Shoichi?"

"I-I'm sorry Chrome. I can't let them catch you, or else we'll all be in trouble."

"W-What do you mean?"

"You need to survive. You need to be safe. You can't die yet. In time, you'll know why." he told her repeatedly and he saw the perplexity in her eyes.

"For now, I need to send you to a place where they don't know about your existence yet."

He knew if he told her of his plan, she would vehemently protest because she would never leave a comrade behind.

However this time, he couldn't let her argue. There was no time to argue. He needed her safe. She _must_ be safe. He mustn't let them get her and this was the only way.

"I'm sorry, Chrome," he murmured and pushed her off the cliff. He suppressed his guilt seeing the shocked and the fear in her good eye. Wasting no time, he switched on the pink bazooka and threw it towards her.

"_They must not find you." _He thought to himself as pink flames engulfed her and minutes later, she was gone, sent to another era. "_They must not."_

Irie Shoichi then made his move attempting to escape, but as expected, he didn't make it far.

Clenching his fists, he gulped, but he hid his fear as he glared the three pursuers in their black robes and masked face.

"Now, where's the girl that_ Bermuda_ asks for?"

"She's no longer here." Irie Shoichi answered firmly.

"How unfortunate. Then you would've to pay for it," they warned, unleashing their chains.

He gulped knowing that there was nothing much he could do. As the Vindice aimed their chains towards him, Irie Shoichi resigned to his fate….

**xXXx**

Taking his usual stroll, Giotto smiled seeing the clear blue sky. The weather was beautiful, perfect for him to take a walk with his close friend.

"Say, do you think Lady Maria will accept my request for a date?" Cozart pondered nervously, playing with the prospect of rejection.

"I'm sure Lady Maria will accept you. You're quite charming." Giotto answered, attempting to ease his friend.

"Hearing that from a guy, it's making me shudder."

Giotta laughed. "Then perhaps I should ask any fine lady here whether you're charming, or not."

"No Giotto that would be embarrassing…" Cozart mumbled.

"I'm joking," Giotta chuckled, "Anyway, do you want to stay for dinner? Elena's cooking today."

"Can I? Elena's cooking is one of the best after all!"

"If Daemon hears this, he may torture you out of jealousy."

"I know you'll protect me if he does, right?" Cozart grinned, playfully putting his right hand across Giotto shoulders, "But Daemon sure is lucky to have a woman like Elena. Contrary to how unlucky I am with the ladies."

"Perhaps that will change with Lady Maria." Giotto told his friend.

"I'm hoping so, though I'm prepared to be rejected to actually," Cozart scratched his head, "But Giotto, why aren't you finding anyone yet? Look at how all these ladies look at you," Cozart murmured, noticing the glances some beautiful women were giving them.

"Who knows? Maybe I'm not ready, or perhaps I'm just still looking."

"For what?"

Giotto stopped and gazed at the sky with a smile. "The right one."

Cozart inwardly smiled. It was so like his friend to wait for the right one to come, no matter how long it would take.

The two friends then continued their stroll, greeting merchants and random strangers in the process, when Giotto suddenly stopped, his eyes fixed towards a dark alley.

"Giotto?"

Giotto didn't answer his friend, his eyes still focussed on the alley. Wasting no time, he dashed towards it much to Cozart's surprised.

"Hey Giotto, what's wrong?"

"My hyper intuition sensed something," Giotto mentioned. Cozart understood and followed Giotto towards the alley, where a dump was located.

They covered their nose as the stench was unbearable, but Giotto scanned it thoroughly and his eyes widened when he caught sight of something- or someone. Instinctively, he immediately rushed towards the person.

Her skin was white, almost pale, but somewhat flawless. Soft long purple hair sprawled all over her face and an eye patch was covering her right eye, while her good amethyst eye was barely opened. She was beautiful, that he had to admit.

Pulling her up slowly, he noticed his hand was stained by blood. Horrified, he slowly pulled up her black suit, revealing a deep gash at her lower abdomen.

"Cozart, I need cloth! Anything!" he yelled.

Cozart, who was momentarily stunned, snapped back into reality and tore a piece of his shirt to be used as bandage. He immediately passed it to Giotto who wasted no time and wrapped it around her deep wound, hoping that it would at least stop the blood from flowing out for a while.

"Her pulse is weak," Cozart told Giotto after checking for her pulse on her left hand.

Giotto frowned as he continued to wrap up her wound. "Cozart, inform Knuckle to prepare medical aid. I'm bringing her to the mansion."

Cozart understood and dashed away in search for the priest.

Meanwhile, Giotto continued to wrap the bandage around her until he was sure that the blood had stopped.

"Hold on, lady," he whispered.

"Irie…Shoichi…" The girl groaned in pain, her eyes flickered open weakly. Their eyes met in one prolonged yet confused gaze. "Boss….?" She faintly smiled before her consciousness faded again…

For a moment, he was confused but ignored it when he noticed that she had lost consciousness. Seeing this, Giotto softly, but quickly lifted her up. Carrying her gently, he swiftly made his way towards his mansion, hoping that he would get there on time to save this mysterious woman…

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**So, well, I'm still unsure on whether to continue this. I mean there's a lot of time travel fics around, but this one focuses on Chrome of course...**

**Of course since this is the first chapter, there are a lot of questions left unanswered.**

**Hmm... I mean Idk the demands to see a Chrome x 1st Generation fic, so if you guys want me to continue, I will.**

**If not, this will go to the dump I guess?**

**Till next time. I shall TRY to update Learning Emotions now. Sigh...**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you Hopelesslyhope, LuckyandStars, Psychopatic Light, Fem27, Maverick no Knight, Shizuka, Whisper of Echo, 18Madison81, darkfirex199, Tina, dragonbook, BlackAngel'sWrath, yukixsnow, anabel the lady shark, Zero, Chocolate and Caramel, Aubrey 09, Ultimate Anime Fan, Pearllover2019, destined-123 and Hirai Yukini for your reviews.**

**A/N: Ah, the Thumbrive where I save all my chapters crashed, and I actually had the latest chapter of this fic , _A Darkened World_, _Predator and The Prey_ and the new 1896 one shot in it which I simultaneously wrote while writing this...but now all the files are gone... I feel like crying. It's going to take a while for me to rewrite all those again so please bear with me. I took one whole day to rewrite this...yet alone all the other fics... Sigh...**

_italics are mostly for thoughts in this chapter._**  
**

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**Purifying Flames**

**Chapter 2**

_by deadly-chronicles_

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_Present Time_

Chains swirled around him, wrapping every part of him firmly to the point that he could hear the sound of his own bones being crushed. With the chains tightening around him, affecting his breathing, gradually, he suffocated and gasped for air. The sharp edges pointed towards him directly, ready to pierce him anytime.

Without warning, one blade pierced right through his abdomen. Blood spurt out from his wound and mouth, his eyes widened in excruciating pain. Another blade hovered around his heart and in one stab; Irie Shoichi knew that it would be the end.

"_Screw this." _He thought to himself.

The thought of dying was insanely scary, but it was not like he had a choice. Currently wrapped in chains with blood gushing out of his stomach, his life was already slowly seeping away and it was just a matter of time till these monstrous Vindice decided to take it away. He was prepared to die.

"_X-Cannon."_

But luck was on his side.

Flames shot towards the chains, slowly burning them away. The chains gripping him loosened, finally freeing him. With his consciousness fading, he collapsed to the ground.

"I was on my way back from a mission when my hyper intuition senses something here. I didn't expect to see the Vindice attacking my comrade," Sawada Tsunayoshi grimaced, his eyes flickering in anger, "Why are you attacking Irie Shoichi?"

The Vindice didn't answer.

"_The girl isn't here. Retreat."_

Hearing Bermuda's faraway command, the Vindice made their move and disappeared completely without saying a word.

Even though confused, Tsuna temporarily pushed the thought away seeing the fatally injured Shoichi.

"Juudaime!/Tsuna!" Gokudera and Yamamoto with Reborn on his shoulders finally caught up to their boss and their eyes widened seeing the state Irie Shoichi was in.

"What happened?"

Tsuna shrugged. "Vindice attacked. For what reason, I don't know, but there's no time to think of reasons. We need to bring him to treatment."

"Let's bring him back to the mansion. I'll call the medical team to come over." Gokudera said.

Tsuna agreed. Lifting the unconscious Irie Shoichi up, he dashed towards the Vongola mansion with Yamamoto, Reborn and Gokudera following behind him.

The moment they stepped into the mansion, Tsuna placed Irie Shoichi in the medical room.

"Gokudera, call the medical team now," Tsuna ordered. He then took a look around and grimaced, "This mansion is strangely quiet. Where's everyone?"

"Lambo is with I-Pin, helping Aneki on research. Ryohei accompanied Kyoko and Haru back to Japan. Rokudo Mukuro is on a mission with most of Kokuyo while Hibari is at the Foundation headquarters. Everyone is away except for Chrome. She should be here." Gokudera told him.

Tsuna grimaced. "But I can't sense her presence here at all. The guards as well."

"I'll go check it out. You guys help Shoichi first till medical team gets here,' Yamamoto offered.

While Yamamoto went to explore the mansion, Tsuna and Gokudera wrapped up Irie Shoichi's deep wound, wanting the bleeding to stop. Tsuna frowned seeing the state Irie Shoichi was in. His face partially bruised and his hands were limp. It was obvious the bones were broken.

"Why would the Vindice attack him, Reborn?" Tsuna murmured.

Reborn didn't answer. He lowered his fedora hat seemingly avoiding his question and seeing this, Tsuna frowned.

"Is there something you're hiding, Reborn?"

Reborn remained quiet, much to Tsuna's displeasure, and it only made him believe more that he was indeed hiding something.

Tsuna didn't get the chance to ask again though, as moments later, Yamamoto appeared again, hints of worry etched on his confused face.

"What's wrong Yamamoto?"

"T-The guards… all of them are not here…and Chrome isn't in her room…"

"Maybe all of them went out?"

"No… Her room… it's…"

Tsuna didn't have to hear more to figure that something bad might had happened. He immediately rushed towards her room with Reborn following behind and when they stepped in, their eyes widened disbelievingly.

Her bed was smashed, her walls cracked and photo frames shattered on the floor. Her closet was a wreck with debris of wood scattered all over. It was a total mess, but what caught their eyes was the trail of blood on the floor.

They followed the trail which ended at her room window, where blood stains were seen on its edge, and the window glass was shattered into pieces. They could guess what might have happened here. She was wounded and she had jumped down to escape.

"W-What happened here?" Tsuna stuttered, completely stunned.

Reborn wished he knew, but seeing the mess and most importantly the blood, he knew it wasn't something good. Furthermore, with Vindice sudden appearance, it was anything but good.

Reborn grimaced. "Tsuna, contact everyone. We need a search party to find her." Reborn then ordered, breaking the silence. "We must find her. _We must_."

**xXXx**

"How is she?" Giotto asked as he watched Knuckle treating the unconscious girl with him and Elena watching carefully.

"Though my Sun flames have slightly healed her wound, I think it's still better for her to receive medical treatment."

"I'll take note of that." Giotto said.

"And get her a change of clothes. I don't think it's nice to make her wear bloodied clothes, right?" Knuckle suggested

Giotto chuckled. "You're right. I'll ask Elena to take care of that. Can you, Elena?"

"Sure I can. I'll look for some spare dress now," Elena smiled and left the room.

"Well, then I'm heading downstairs first. I'll come in here occasionally to check up her injury." Knuckle told them.

"Got it. Thanks Knuckle. And you're staying for dinner, right?" Giotto asked.

The priest nodded with a smile before leaving the room, leaving him alone there.

He gazed at her and noticed that despite being unconscious, her expression seemed uptight. He approached her when she suddenly stirred, her expression tenser than before.

"Irie…Shoichi…."

It was the same name she mentioned before.

"_Is he her fiancée?"_ Giotto wondered.

Her expression tensed up again and seeing it, Giotto felt worried knowing that it would affect her recovery. He believed that one would recover faster with a peaceful mind.

Wanting to ease her, he gently patted her head. "Forget your worries for a while and let your mind rest." He whispered into her ears.

Almost immediately, she eased up, her tensed expression replaced with a serene one. Seeing that, Giotto smiled and left the room, not wanting to disturb her peaceful rest.

**xXXx**

She imagined she heard the sound of a bird chirping a melodious, calming and tranquil tone.

"_Hibird?" _she thought.

She slowly opened her eyes and saw a small swallow chirping at the edge of the window, its small eyes gazing at her. The sun rays from the sun shone brightly, causing her good eye to squint slightly.

Wondering where she was, Chrome looked around and found herself in an unfamiliar surrounding. The brown wooded cupboards looked grand, but it was rather antique. Even the door and the bed she was on seemed uniquely old. Chrome stood up and realized that her black leather suit was replaced by a silky white dress. She felt a neatly wrapped bandage around her lower abdomen, slightly wincing in pain when she accidentally pressed on it. As she continued to look around, the swallow flew onto her shoulder and continued chirping melodiously.

"Ah, looks like you befriended Kojirou, Asari's swallow already."

Kojirou flew off her shoulder towards the man that spoke. Dressed in black golden trimmed priest robe with a red scarf around his shoulders, he emitted a rather calm aura. He looked strangely familiar. With the white bandage over his nose, Chrome realized that he looked like Sasagawa Ryohei, but with black hair and less extreme.

"_Black hair in a priest outfit and looks like Sasagawa-san… That's just like the Vongola 1__st__ Sun Guardian?" _Chrome thought to herself.

"So are you feeling better?" Knuckle sincerely asked.

"Am I dead?" She mumbled, rubbing her good eye.

Knuckle looked at her confused. "Sorry?"

"Am I dead?"

Knuckle blinked. "No, you're pretty much alive. If Giotto and Cozart didn't find you, maybe you might." Knuckle honestly said.

Chrome froze. _"So I'm not dead."_

"Hello?" Knuckle waved, noticing that she had froze.

The door creaked opened and another man entered. "Knuckle, I need your help to fish out some confessions from a certain criminal." He had platinum blonde hair and was dressed in a buttoned trench coat with a dark purple grey dress shirt as well as a black tie.

"How many times must I say Alaude? I do not fish out confessions. Confessions must come from the heart. It I forced it out, the person will not be at peace," Knuckle said, but he didn't look at Alaude as he was still waving at the girl.

"I don't care. I just want confessions so I can catch him." Alaude grimaced, "And what're you doing?" He glared at the priest who was waving at a girl he had never seen before.

"I think I stun her somehow. She's frozen. "

"If I snap her out of it, you'll help me get the confessions," Alaude growled.

Knuckle couldn't even protest when Alaude suddenly gripped the girl's hand tightly. He was about to push her against the wall when she reacted.

"Kumo!" she gasped, her cheeks flushed slightly.

"Kumo?" Alaude raised his eyebrows.

"Y-You look like K-umo," She squeaked.

"Which part of me look like a Cloud?" Alaude grimaced.

"Alaude, let her go." Another voice was heard. Alaude turned and seeing the blonde, he loosened his grip on her, letting her go.

"You're helping me with the confession," he eyed Knuckle grimly and walked away. It was more of a command than a request and Knuckle couldn't help but sigh.

"Alaude, join us for dinner. We barely see you around in gatherings." Giotto smiled.

"No, thank you." Alaude frowned and walked out.

"I'll go persuade him," Knuckle sighed and walked out of the room. Kojirou that had been on his shoulder flew off and went to Chrome, nestling on her head.

"Forgive us, Alaude likes to use force, but he means no harm actually." Giotto sincerely apologized, "And it seems like Asari's swallow took a liking on you," Giotto smiled, looking at the swallow on her head.

"Y-Yea…" Chrome murmured, blushing slightly.

"I know you're perhaps confused right now seeing an unfamiliar surrounding, but make yourself at home." Giotto told her kindly, "Join us for dinner as well. We'll be glad to have you."

Blushing, Chrome meekly nodded. His words and tone were kind that it completely eased her, just like how boss always did.

"Ah, how rude of me. I have yet to introduce myself. I am Giotto. How should I address you?"

"Chrome Dokuro."

Giotto smiled. "Chrome. What a nice name," he genuinely said. "I'll escort you down when dinner is ready. For now, rest first. Make yourself comfortable."

"T-Thank you." Chrome murmured.

"Kojirou," Giotto charismatically called out the swallow on her head. Kojirou got off her and flew towards the blonde, making itself comfortable on his right shoulder.

He then smiled at her again and left the room.

Once she was alone, Chrome let her thoughts wander. Why was she seeing the 1st Generation of the Vongola? The last thing she remembered was being pushed off a cliff by Irie Shoichi and everything after that was blank. She firmly believed that she was dead, but they said that she was very much alive.

Confused, she gazed out of the window and seeing the rather historical infrastructures, she knew she was not in the modern world.

_"For now, I need to send you to a place where they don't know about your existence yet."_

Remembering Irie Shoichi's words, her eyes widened in as realization.

"_A place where my existence is not yet known…" _Chrome thought_, "Irie Shoichi… in order to save me from them, you sent me to the past?"_

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**Hope this chapter is fine. First time writing 96 x 1st Generation interactions, and there'll be more to come of course in the future.**

******Sigh, depress mode on. Deadly-Chronicles will try to update all the chapters she had lost. Sigh...**


	3. Chapter 3

**_Thank you for your reviews Msdgirl, Maverick no Knight, Neophobia, dragonbook, 18Madison81, BlackAngel'sWrath, Shizuka, yukixsnow, Hikari, Tina, Tsuna4cS, ChocolateAddictionx, destined-123, Loas, Il mio nome e Chrome Dokuro, violet404, and silvertwilightgermini._**

**_Anonymous acknowledgments:_**

_**Shizuka:** Hahaha! Don't be so excited! I fear to disappoint :/_

_**yukixsnow**: You know.. Don't be surprise if I ended up quoting your dialogue. I so love you for this but even if not this, I'll still love you xD_

_**Hikari:** OH GOD THANK YOU._

_**Tina:** Yes depress mode... :( But I hope you're better now! And your grades will improve! You can do it with your dying will! It's not the end!_

_**Tsuna 4 Cn4s:** Thank you! Well I'm fine now I guess. I just have to rewrite all of them back I guess. lol :/ I know the length is short. i'm trying to work on that but... hahahah xD_

**A/N: I feel like you know wanting to disappear for a few months to get my life back on track but somehow I know that won't work. Lol.**

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**Purifying Flames**

**Chapter 3**

_by deadly-chronicles_

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_"For now, I need to send you to a place where they don't know about your existence yet."_

She was trapped in the past.

As Irie Shoichi's words played in her mind, Chrome Dokuro felt the confusion and fear deep within her. She was trapped in the past with currently no idea of how to go back to her time at all. She pranced around the room anxiously, her mind filled with thoughts about the current situation she was in. Part of her was still in _denial_, wanting to believe that this was some kind of nightmare. She even contemplated slapping herself, hoping that it would wake her up and she would then found herself back at the Vongola mansion, safe and secure in her room. However, the other part of her knew this was _real_ as she could still remember vividly the pain when she was stabbed by those Vindice chains. She remembered fighting back, but their strength in three was too much for her thus she had no choice but to jump out of the window in order to escape. She remembered clearly running into the woods, hoping to escape from her monstrous pursuers when Irie Shoichi found her and dragged her up to continue running and she even remembered how he pushed her off the cliff.

She clearly knew that all those weren't a dream. The Vindice did broke into the mansion and attack her. Irie Shoichi did pull her up and drag her to run away and Irie Shoichi did push her off the cliff. She mulled over the fact that perhaps she had died, her corpse was probably somewhere below the cliff and this was just her in a spirit world where she encountered other dead spirits, such as the 1st Generation.

But Irie Shoichi wouldn't push her down a cliff to kill her right?

No, definitely not. Scrap that idea.

Irie Shoichi wasn't a murderer. He in fact specifically said that she _needed_ to be safe, that she _mustn't_ be caught, thus he pushed her off the cliff, and the next thing she knew when she woke up, she was here, in this different time, and not any other time, but the time where the _Vongola 1st Generation_ still existed. Her guess was he had somehow sent her to the past to keep her safe.

'Irie Shoichi. Did he manage to escape? If the Vindice caught up to him, he'll be…' She thought worriedly. At the thought of him, Chrome was fully consumed with worry. She would never forgive herself if something had happened to him and she was safe here. Her jaw tightened imagining that scenario.

"Are you all right?" she heard. Startled, she jerked back, surprised by those sharp orange tone eyes that were gazing at her.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I knocked the door, but there was no response." Giotto apologized, "Are you all right? You seem… pale." He asked concerned.

"A-Ah yea." She timidly answered.

Giotto gazed at her sceptically and it made her remember that _he_ was the 1st Vongola boss, the first one to have the hyper intuition, hence she wasn't surprised if he could see through her uneasiness, just like how Boss always saw hers. Her body tensed slightly seeing his sharp gaze at her, but eased up almost immediately the moment she saw him smiling gently at her. He was just like the boss, how a simple smile could easily ease her, or she should say that Boss was just like him.

"Dinner is ready. Please join us." He kindly offered. "I'll walk you to the dining hall."

She shyly nodded and followed him from behind as he led the way and he stopped the moment they stepped out of her room.

"Are you nervous?" He asked.

"E-Eh?"

"You seemed frightened. Don't worry. My friends don't harm." He assured her.

"I-I'm fine." She told the concerned Primo with a slight blush. Giotto smiled and continued walking again, walking beside her now instead of in front of her. Chrome noticed that he seemed to have slower his pace and she wondered why, not knowing that he had adjusted his pace so that she wouldn't lag behind.

"Giotto!" They heard while on the way towards the dining hall. Chrome saw a man in a white collared shirt with few unbuttoned buttons and a dark green tie that hangs loosely around his neck. His pale red hair was chin length and his eyes were a shade darker than his hair. The most prominent thing though was the red tattoo on the right side of his face that looked similar to the Storm Flame.

"G. What's the matter?"

Puffing a piece of cigar, he looked at Giotto, seemingly unaware of Chrome's presence who was standing beside his boss. "Some new documents that require your attention just arrived. You can take a look at it after dinner."

"Thank you G," Giotto said, "Oh G, meet Chrome Dokuro. She'll be joining us for dinner."

It was then when he realized the girl's presence and his attention immediately shifted towards the delicate looking girl beside Giotto, his dark shade eyes meeting her lone violet one in a long incredulous gaze, and Chrome had a feeling that he was staring straight at her eye patch.

"A guest?" G enquired, raising his eyebrows slightly, his gaze still fixed on her.

Giotto nodded while G eyed Chrome suspiciously. He grimaced. Unlike the calm and gentle Giotto, G seemed more… intimidating. His nature reminded her greatly of Gokudera Hayato, how he seemed _wary_ of nearly everything at first sight.

G said nothing to her as the three of them made their way to the dining hall, occasionally giving her glares as he puffed on his cigar.

"We're here," Giotto announced and Chrome stopped seeing the dining table in front of her. She stood still as G went to join his group of friends who were already sitting there waiting for the meals to be served.

"Everyone, we'll have a guest for tonight. Chrome Dokuro will join us for dinner." Giotto told everyone on the table.

"Oh? This is interesting. Giotto _never_ brings a woman to dinner before. Nufufufu." Daemon Spade commented, eyeing the girl with interest.

"That's the woman I told you about just now," A beautiful blonde woman told him, "Giotto and Cozart found her badly injured and brought her back for Knuckle to treat her."

Daemon's eyes widened with slight interest. "You recover rather _fast._"

"It must be a miracle." Knuckle added on, "So how're you feeling?"

"B-Better."

"That's great!" It was Cozart this time. "When we found you, you were in a pretty bad shape."

Chrome blinked not knowing what to say.

"Everyone, let her sit down first before throwing questions at her," Giotto requested politely.

"A-Ah, our bad. Take a seat beside me. My name is Elena. Don't worry, I'm not like most of the guys here," she chuckled.

"What's that supposed to mean?" G grimaced.

"Oh, you of all people should know. Elena is so graceful, not as rowdy as you. Nufufufu."

"Which is why I wonder why she ends up with someone like you," G argued.

"Now, what's that supposed to be mean?" Daemon eyed him, pretending to look offended.

"Oh come on guys. You know my comment wasn't serious." Elena attempted to stop the bickering guys.

Giotto watched them in amusement before looking at Chrome. "I'm sorry you have to witness this Chrome. We rarely have dinner together so when all of us meet, we love to argue, especially the guys. It's a sign of love, I supposed?"

"No, it's fine. I completely understand the feeling. It's kind of warm, this family feeling…" Chrome replied with a sincere smile, something which caught him off guard.

Realizing what she had just said, her face reddened as she immediately took a seat beside Elena. Giotto chuckled softly in amusement before sitting down himself at the centre. Chrome tried to make herself comfortable, but it was rather awkward sitting with guys that looked like her fellow guardians. It was like she knew them, but yet she didn't.

And it didn't help at all when she noticed Daemon Spade staring at her. She shifted uncomfortably under his gaze, her mind kept repeating to herself that this was _not_ the Daemon Spade that took control of her, therefore she should act normal, but it was easier said than done.

"Daemon, stop staring at Chrome. You're making her uncomfortable." Giotto told him.

Daemon smirked sheepishly as Elena shot him a warning glare. "Nufufufu, I'm sorry. I'm just _curious._"

Before anything else was said, a swallow hovered above the table.

"Asari, how many times must I tell you to lock Kojirou when we're having dinner?" G growled.

"A bird doesn't belong in a cage," Asari casually replied with a smile. He extended his hand calling out to Kojirou to come to him but instead of flying towards him, the swallow flew towards their new guest and nestled comfortably on her head.

Chrome blushed while Asari blinked in surprise. It was rare for Kojirou to like a stranger immediately, thus the sight was rather shocking for him. However, he chose to say nothing and just smiled in response, allowing his bird to rest on her head.

Giotto smiled at the sight before he saw an empty seat. He heaved out a sigh."Where's Alaude?"

"Here." A cold voice was heard. Alaude appeared and took the empty seat which happened to be the seat opposite of Chrome. Their eyes met and his lips twitched into a frown. Chrome stiffened under his glare. It was as scary as Hibari Kyoya, but at least she knew Hibari _personally_ to be comfortable under his gaze.

But that couldn't be said with Alaude. She didn't know this man in front of her. In fact she didn't really know anyone here and she couldn't help but to feel flinched whenever some of them glared at her as though cautious of her very existence.

Hell, this would be one awkward dinner.

Finally what seemed like eternity, the food was serve. She quickly finished it up with a bird resting on her hair without saying any single word. She just wanted to get away from Daemon's curious gaze, G suspicious ones and Alaude's annoyed one.

Once she completed her meal, she abruptly stood up and bowed. "T-Thank you for the meal." She thanked them before running off to the room given to her with Kojirou still on her head.

"You three scared her," Giotto murmured, looking at Alaude, Daemon and G.

"Well, she kind of pissed Alaude off by calling him _Kumo_ when they first met, hence the annoyed glares." Knuckle explained.

"What's wrong with Kumo? I think it fits Alaude perfectly." Giotto said without hesitation. Alaude grimaced and shot him a death glare but he chose to remain quiet.

"Then G, why are you glaring at her? I have told you many times that all guests are welcome."

"I have every right to be doubtful. That eye patch of her makes her looks suspicious. What if she was a spy sent by the _pirates?_ I have no choice but to be wary, Giotto. I care for the safety of this place, and the Vongola."

"But she seems like a sweet girl to me. Even Kojirou likes her and it's rare for Kojirou to like a stranger unless it's really sure that person is… _gentle._" Asari added on.

"But looks can be deceiving." G growled, puffing another cigar. "Give me some time. Maybe I'll trust her soon enough. Tch."

"You know what I think? I think you all just don't know how to react because no other girl other than me had been invited to this mansion before." Elena commented.

"Well, that's because every other ladies that want to be here is either after money… or just want… to seduce." Cozart sighed.

"Which gives me more right to be suspicious of that woman. What makes you think she'll be any different?" G groaned.

"No, she's _different_ all right." Daemon commented, startling everyone except for Giotto. "I know someone _unique_ when I see one. There's _definitely_ something different about her, right _Giotto?_"

Giotto sighed; his sharp orange eyes flickered at Daemon's words. "I'm letting her stay here," he said before walking off.

"Why?" G questioned with a frown.

"Because my hyper intuition says that it is the right thing to do."

**xXXx**

She leaned against the wall; her breathing uneven as she had practically ran here. She never meant to be rude and left dinner halfway when the rest have yet to finish theirs, but she couldn't stand the tension. Three men were probably gawking at her, the Cloud out of annoyance, the Mist out of curiosity and the Storm due to suspicions.

It was probably the most awkward dinner she ever had and heck it made her missed the dinners she had with Boss and the rest. She was preoccupied with her own thoughts when she heard chirpings from her head. Realizing that the swallow was still on her head, she gently picked it up with her hands. Kojirou continued chirping in her hands. Seeing the bird, she immediately thought of Hibird.

Her good eye saddened. She missed Hibird, how that small yellow bird always loved to rest on her hair. She really missed it. _No_, she missed everything else.

She missed Boss and his complaints to her about the loads of paperwork.

She missed the free time where she listened to Gokudera playing the piano.

She missed the friendly baseball games she had with Yamamoto.

She missed the morning runs with Ryohei.

She missed learning Italian with Lambo.

She missed the sparring session she always had with Hibari.

She missed hanging out with Mukuro-sama and the rest of Kokuyo.

She missed _her_ Vongola. She knew she should be strong but she was still human with anxieties and now she was really missing the place she called _home_. The Vongola Mansion. Her sanctuary. Her haven. Her _home._ However, she coudn't go home because she's here in the past without anyone else, without any form of _technology_ or _knowledge_ to go back. How long she would be here, she had no idea. How long they would allow her to stay here, she had no idea as well. How long till they found out that she wasn't part of _this time_, she too had no idea.

These thoughts continued to fill her. Her mind was a complete mess.

Tired, confused, upset as well as _still wounded_, she sat down on the floor and closed her eyes with her back still leaning against the wall. Her wound at her lower abdomen was beginning to hurt again and it was draining her energy somehow. She slumped herself against the wall and closed her eyes. Kojirou was still chirping a rather melodious tune that it calmed her heart and she slowly drifted into sleep. She heard the door creaked open, but her eyes were too tired to open to see who it was. She heard slow, soft and gentle footsteps walking towards her. It soon stopped and she then felt herself being lifted gently and the next thing she knew, her back was leaning against something soft. It then occurred in her semi-conscious mind that _someone_ had carried her off from the floor to the bed. Wanting to know who it was, she forced her sleepy eyes to open slightly.

Her vision was blurry, but she saw a figure with a long cape walking out of her room.

He looked like Boss.

**xXXx**

"What do you mean Chrome is missing?"

Sawada Tsunayoshi gazed at the huge monitor screen, the furious face of his other illusionist glaring intently at him. It wasn't hard for him to tell that Rokudo Mukuro was extremely worried. After all, the moment he sent out the news about Chrome to the rest of the Vongola that wasn't in the mansion, he immediately received a video call… from Rokudo Mukuro.

Tsuna took a deep breath. "She's not in her room. There were trail of blood. We can't reach her at all."

"How in the word did that happen?" His heterochromic eyes twitched in anger.

"W-We're still investigating."

"Still Investigating?" Rokudo Mukuro snapped. "My precious Chrome is missing and you guys are_ still_ investigating?"

"We're trying our best here. We're worried about her here as much as you are. I thought of waiting till you get back, but since I'm already talking to you now, I want to ask whether you can reach Chrome. Even when you two are different entities now, the bond both of you shared are still strong. You can still reach her through the mind." Tsuna firmly said.

Mukuro grimaced. "She's distant."

"What do you mean?"

"Distant. I can feel that she's alive, but somewhere_ far away_… I'm trying again though. I'll tell you details once I get back there."

"Understood."

"Sawada Tsunayoshi."

"Yea?"

"The moment I get back, you better have a good explanation on how my precious Chrome went missing, _or else_…"

Tsuna didn't have a chance to answer as the video call immediately ended. God, he had always known that Rokudo Mukuro was protective of her. He just never knew _how_ protective. Well, he had his answer now. He let out a heavy sigh, massaging the sides of his head. God, he was having a really bad headache. Not surprising. After all, he had been awake for the entire night, his mind thinking about the missing girl.

If Chrome was here, she would know how to ease his headaches. She had always been exceptionally good at it. She simply knew how to calm and ease others.

_Chrome._ He thought about the girl again and frowned.

"I shouldn't have left her alone in the mansion. I should've brought her with me," Tsuna clenched his fist in fury and mumbled regretfully.

"It's no point regretting now, Tsuna. We've no idea this would happen." Reborn told him.

"But what're we suppose to tell Rokudo Mukuro when he arrives here? Honestly, we have no idea _why_ and _how_ she's missing."

"We just have to wait for Irie Shoichi to gain consciousness."

Tsuna eyed the Arcobaleno, a frown etched on his face. "But Irie Shoichi was attacked by the Vindice. How is it connected to Chrome? Reborn, you _are_ hiding something right?"

Reborn lowered his fedora hat again before he finally spoke, and hearing Reborn's answer, Tsuna's frown deepened.

"Vindice's attack on Irie Shoichi, and Chrome being missing... It's _definitely_ connected, Tsuna. After all, the _only_ reason why Vindice will want to attack any of us… is to get _her_."

**xXXx**

"Kyo-san, we just received a decoded message from the Reborn as well as a distress call from Vongola headquarters."

Hibari said nothing and continued sipping his cup of tea in his usual yukata. For one who had just received news that the headquarters had sent out a distress call, Hibari Kyouya was still greatly composed as though the news didn't affect him at all. Tetsuya Kusakabe wasn't surprise. Hibari wasn't one to express himself.

"Did you decode the message, Tetsu?" he asked.

"I did."

"What did it say?"

"The _wielder_ is missing. The _Zombies_ struck the_ technician._"

While he was expressionless just now, this time, Hibari Kyouya seemed stunned. He smashed his cup of tea onto the small table, abruptly stood up and headed towards his room.

"We're going back to headquarters," he suddenly commanded, startling Kusakabe.

"Yes sir. I'll go prepare the plane."

"Tetsu." He called out coldly and Kusakabe immediately stopped. "Chrome Dokuro is missing, right?"

"A-Ah! That's what the distress call was about." Kusakabe blurted wondering how his master knew about it when he hadn't informed him that piece of news yet.

Hibari Kyouya said nothing but Kusakabe noticed that his eyes were… _angry_. Hibari entered his room to change, slammed the door shut and clenched his fist.

He grimaced.

"So, _they_ have found out about _her_."

* * *

**Oh heck, I seriously wanted to write why Bermuda is interested in Chrome, or at least some hints, but guess it has to wait till the next chapter. **

**And yes, I'm making some of the 1st Generation suspicious of Chrome. After all, you don't suddenly accept a stranger, unless you're Giotto, right? But do not worry. G and Alaude will warm up to her ;)**

**And oh Daemon's interest in her isn't physical attraction or love attraction. He has Elena for that, but more to he found her... unique. Perhaps he senses something? Hehe.**

**So yea, I hope this chapter was fine. Not much progress, but I am slow. If only I have less fics, I can update this fic faster, but too bad, I have 7 fics to update. Slow death. :/**

**Reviews will be much loved and will definitely be a motivation for an inspire-less me.**

**Till next time everyone!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you Msdgirl, Passer-by, Vikuppy, LuckyandStars, violet404, ChocolateAddictionx, Whisper of Echo, Shizuka, Hikari, Il mio nome e Chrome Dokuro, BlackAngel'sWrath, 18Madison81, dragonbook, yukixsnow, Zero, Aubrey09, destined-123, KHRfan, Ultimate Anime Fan, KagamineRin81, Maverick no Knight, Indyctator, nameless, silvertwilightgemini, kuuromuu-chii, TheRipper-Rin for your reviews.**

**A/N: Sorry for the delay. I'm turning into an insomniac. Can't remember the last time I actually slept for more than 1 hour, so updates of all my fics will be slow. A sleepy author is a tired author and a tired author has less creative juices. So, sorry for the delay. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own KHR**

* * *

**Purifying Flames**

**Chapter 4**

_by deadly-chronicles_

* * *

He was trying his best to maintain his cool demeanour.

No, he wasn't even angry. After all, he would never get mad without a valid reason before. To associate Giotto and getting angry out of the blue was rather impossible. That man barely gets furious to the point that he could even forgive his enemies easily. Giotto was a man of values and patience; he was respectable, cool, calm and always collected.

So yes, he wasn't angry, but it was still hard to keep his cool front currently, not because of anger, but rather due to… amusement. And the reason for his amusement? G had been staring at him straight for two hours.

Here in his office browsing through the new documents that required his immediate attention, he had been very well aware that G was glaring at him for two hours straight. He didn't even have to look up; his hyper intuition was enough to tell him that his right hand man's cold gaze was indeed on him. As Giotto continued to read the documents, he was trying his best not to chuckle at G's rather 'silly' behaviour.

He knew the reason though. He didn't have to guess or think twice that it was about Chrome, the girl he brought home.

Ever since a child, G had always been the cautious one. He remembered vividly when he met his childhood friend for the first time; G was rather suspicious by his bright orange eyes as no one could have such sparkling and bright eyes. It was impossible and cagey, G had first told him. After that first encounter, he honestly thought that he and G couldn't be friends, because that guy, even as a 6-year old, was highly suspicious of him. It was when Giotto helped him fought out some school bullies who cornered him that their friendship actually began. After that incident, the two somehow became friends and as years passed their friendship bloomed from normal to close friends.

G had always been suspicious about everything. He remembered how he was wary when Giotto first encountered a lost Ugetsu Asari in Italy. G murmured he could be faking it to get Giotto's attention because Giotto looked like a rich man. He was even wary of Alaude, despite the fact that he's the leader of a reputable investigation team. When Giotto entrusted Alaude to start CEDEF, G commented that Alaude was too distant to be trusted, but Giotto reminded him that that was the reason why he trusted Alaude in the first place, because he knew Alaude would never be biased. Even when Daemon first introduced Elena the Vongola, G grunted in disapproval, not wanting to trust the said lady fearing that she had other hidden agendas. It was only when Elena had proven herself to be trustworthy was when G began warming up to her and tolerated her presence in the mansion.

Sighing slightly, Giotto knew that G was not a man that trusted easily. Hence, he wouldn't be surprise if G wouldn't even want to try to trust Chrome.

Putting down all the documents back onto his table, Giotto heaved out another sigh. "G, may I know what's wrong?" He asked even though deep within, he already knew the answer.

"Are you serious in letting that girl stay?" He growled unhappily. It was straight to the point. He didn't even beat around the bush. That was one good thing about G. Straight to the point. It made him an honest man in that sense.

Giotto sighed again and looked at his right hand man, distrust obvious in his eyes. "Yes, G. I am serious."

"Why?"

"Because I doubt she has anywhere else to go," Giotto honestly answered.

"You didn't even ask her." G rolled his eyes. "I bet it's because your hyper intuition tells you that she must stay, so you straightway assume that she doesn't have anywhere to go."

"You know me to well." Giotto smirked.

"Of course. You're Giotto. I've known you since you're six. You're too trusting and too kind, especially to this girl." G snapped, puffing on his cigar. "And I want to know why."

Giotto blinked. Too trusting? Too kind? Especially to her? He swore that he was treating her the same way as he treated the rest of his friends. "I'm exceptionally kind to her? But G, I treat her the same way as I treat you all."

"Yea, except that she's a lady." G reminded him.

"What'd you mean by that?"

"Gods Giotto, are you an idiot? You've never been _that_ nice to any lady before. Any maiden who requests for your presence, you'll politely decline and will send someone else to meet her. You don't associate yourself with women much. In fact, I dare say that you even make it a point to avoid some of them." G growled.

Giotto didn't say anything as he absorbed G's words. "So your point is?"

My point is," G murmured as he puffed his cigar again, "In front of this lady, you're acting differently. And don't you dare deny it. I know you went to her room after dinner last night. "

"I was just checking up on a traumatized guest who had been glared by three intimidating men," Giotto reminded him but G didn't seem to get the hint. In fact, G merely glared at him more. Giotto sighed again staring blankly at the wall. "And like Daemon had said. She's different."

"How different? I don't seen anything that make her different from other ladies," G questioned. "Giotto. Don't tell me it is love at first sight?" G gasped, his eyes widened in disbelief, his cigar almost fell off his mouth.

"No." Came his straight response. Giotto actually repressed the urge to say yes, wanting to say yes just to spike his childhood friend more, but seeing G's current expression which was definitely extremely flabbergasted, he went against it and chose to answer him honestly, which was a no.

It was definitely not love at first sight. Giotto however did find her _highly_ attractive at first sight (despite the fact that she actually was losing A LOT of blood). He was still a man after all, thus he did in fact consider her rather beautiful, but he didn't consider that as love at first sight. After all, love and attraction are two different things, right?

Somehow Giotto didn't want to know the answer to that yet, and he was not sure if he wanted to know the answer, so he chose to stare at G who was now looking at him incredulously. His facial expression was telling him that G wanted to believe his, but he was still rather sceptical, causing Giotto to sigh again.

"No, it's not love at first sight." Giotto repeated himself to make sure G get it this time.

"Then what?" G asked.

Giotto was completely speechless. Truth was, he had no idea how to answer that question. He opened his mouth to speak, but close it again as he had no idea what to say. Yes, she was different. He could see that. Daemon saw it as well, but the rest didn't. That girl was different, even his hyper intuition kept telling him that. However, he didn't know how to explain this 'feeling' to G.

"I don't know," Came his honest response. He wasn't lying, he really didn't know why was she different. The girl was after all a mystery, a mystery that needed to be solved, and according to his hyper intuition, she must be protected.

_And my hyper intuition is never wrong._

G glared at him until he was sure that his boss was still pretty damn serious in wanting to let her stay here. He let out an exasperated sigh and cursed. "Tch, fine. Since you trust her, I can try trusting her, but I'm the right hand man of Vongola. The safety of the Vongola is important to me. While I can't stop you from letting her stay here since this is _your_ mansion, I will however still keep an eye on her just in case she might be an enemy." G growled, throwing his cigar away before he continued. "I will NOT however babysit her and show her around if you ask me too. Heck, I'm tired of handling all those girls after you."

Giotto chuckled. "Ah, and here I thought maybe you're kind enough to show Chrome around town." He teased earning him a death glare from G. Giotto chuckled again. "I'm joking, G. I'm more than capable to show her around town myself." He stood up and walked past his scowling friend. "But thank you, G."

"Tch, what for?" He murmured and puffed on another cigar.

Giotto stopped and smiled. "For putting the safety of our group at top priority, as always." He genuinely said before walking out of his office, leaving G alone there smirking to himself.

**xXXx**

The mansion was humongous. Chrome realized that once she chose to look at it, exploring it as much as she could since she had nothing much to do. But really, the mansion was huge. It's almost like the Vongola mansion of her time, except this one was more… classy. She assumed it was perhaps due to the antique looking decorations that made the mansion looked rather… exotic. She continued to admire the mansion from the inside when she felt something hovered behind her followed by the soft chirps. Seconds later, she felt something fluffy resting on her head and she immediately knew it was Kojirou.

The swallow was a strange one. It seemed to have taken an extreme liking towards her. In the morning when she woke up, Kojirou was at the edge of the bed, immediately flying towards her head when he saw her eyes opened. When Chrome gently carried him back to its owner who was leaving the mansion for a few weeks, Kojirou chose not to follow Ugetsu Asari, but instead it chose to make itself comfortable on her hair again.

Chrome was quick to mutter countless of apologies saying something about she didn't mean to 'seduce' his bird, her expression tense and definitely worried. However, Ugetsu Asari merely laughed it off causing her to blink in surprise. Asari then told her he didn't mind Kojirou being with her, and if it wished to stay with her while he was away, he would allow it. After all, Kojirou seemed too really like Chrome a lot, thus he firmly believed that his swallow would be in safe hands around her and that she would take good care of it. With those final words, he smiled just like Yamamoto Takeshi and left Kojirou with her.

So now here she was wandering around the mansion with the Kojirou on her head as her only friend. The swallow itself was a comforting presence though. It made her feel that she actually had a _friend._ After last night awkward dinner, she had practically gone all the way to avoid bumping into people, especially Alaude and G.

Elena had entered her room in the morning to give her new change of clothes. They exchanged a few words where she had told her not to hesitate to look for her if she needed anything. That comforted Chrome greatly. It was nice to know that there was another female in the house where she could confide with.

However, Chrome tried not to spend so much time with the beautiful blonde as most of the time she was either with Daemon, or busy doing some things while Daemon looked at her. So Chrome, being her timid self, chose not to disturb their alone time together.

Which was currently the reason why she was wandering around the house with only a bird as a friend. Slightly tired, she leaned against the wall, closed here eyes and sighed. Kojirou was still chirping when she heard someone approaching.

"Tired?" She heard. Chrome immediately opened her eyes and a blush crept to her face seeing Giotto standing right in front her with his usual kind expression.

"A-Ah, not really." She replied, still blushing as she recalled that this man had carried her to bed last night and also because she blushed too easily.

"Ah, good that you're not tired because I'm thinking of showing you around town now," Giotto smiled.

"Around town?"

"Yes. It's also unhealthy for you to stay in the mansion only while recovering. You need the fresh air as well, so Chrome, will you take a walk with me around town?"

"Okay." She nodded meekly in agreement. Giotto smiled.

"Let's go."

**xXXx**

There were two things she learned about Giotto in these few days trapped in the past. One. Giotto was a very kind man, helping helpless humans like her. Two. Giotto was a very important and special man in town. As the two of them walked around town, Chrome noticed that almost everyone, or perhaps everyone would stop and greet the blonde with a smile on their faces. The merchants seemed to like him. The children seemed to love him. Teenage boys looked up to him. Even stray cats and dogs were attached to him.

And oh, ladies swooned over him.

Chrome wouldn't realize that if she hadn't felt some death glares that were definitely on her. When she looked around, she noticed that most of the female population in town was glaring at her. She stiffened slightly and not because she was afraid, but more to being intimidated because those ladies looked like they wanted to kill her or something. Chrome mentally sighed. She was already stuck in the past, something which had already given her tremendous headache. The _last_ thing she need was to have the entire female population jealous of her. Subconsciously, she slowed down her pace, walking behind Giotto now instead of beside him. They hadn't spoken a single word ever since they left the mansion, but he seemed to notice her change of pace, thus he stopped and looked at her.

"Are you all right?" He asked.

"Yea."

"Am I walking to fast?" He asked again.

"No." She honestly answered, hoping that he would leave it as that, but his gaze was still on her. "I-I just like to walk behind people." She lamely explained.

His eyes told her that he didn't buy that excuse, but he didn't prod further much to her relief. He just smiled at her and chuckled. "You're quite amusing." Her face turned bright red. He noticed. "And you blush quite easily."

"I-Its hereditary." She explained. "Are you an important figure here? Everyone here seems to respect and admire you." She asked, wanting to change the topic and noticing that more were greeting him.

"Ah, well you can say that I guess. Technically, I'm like the protector of the town. Me and my friends."

"Protector of the town?"

Giotto nodded. "I'm the leader of the vigilante group called the Vongola. We, the ones that were at dinner last night, help those that need help and protect this town from bandits, or thugs, or pirates."

"T-That's a noble thing to do."

"Do you really think so?" Giotto stopped and gazed at the sky. "As time passes, our group slowly become stronger. While we're adamant in staying as a vigilante group, other groups don't see it that way. They see us a threat, and because of that, this town becomes a target. Is that noble?"

"I think the townspeople are able to be at peace and rest better at night knowing that there's a group protecting them. Even if they're targeted, there's a small assurance knowing that someone is looking out for them. That itself is comforting." She murmured softly, her tone soothing and comforting.

Giotto gazed at her, his eyes shimmering in confusion at the positivity of her answer. Realizing that he had just told her one of his worries, his expression changed to an apologetic one. "Forgive me. I accidentally told you one of my worries. I don't know what came over me. I just blurt it out."

"N-No. It's okay really."

Giotto smiled apologetically before showing her around town again. Chrome followed and looked at some places with interest and curiosity. He even showed her the town garden in which Chrome took the chance to breathe in the scent of flowers and natural breeze while he watched her.

He wasn't lying when he told G that she was different because she _was_. The moment he first saw her, he already sensed that her aura seemed off, not in a bad way, but off in a good way. He couldn't understand it at first so he just merely observed.

But just now…

Just now, he felt it himself. He, the calm and collected Giotto suddenly blurting out one of his worries that he had kept from the rest to a woman he just met few days ago. That wasn't like him, but he just felt that he _needed_ to tell her. Her aura was definitely _different_. It forced him to be honest to himself and confessed out one of his worries to her, and immediately he felt calm and at peace as though all his anxieties were healed.

This woman. The reason why his hyper intuition kept on insisting that she must be protected, he finally understood why, even if it's _slightly_. She's definitely different. Her aura was extremely peaceful, emitting a certain light that healed anxious hearts like his just now…

Like an aura of that_ secret_ flame that brings about tranquillity…

**xXXx**

The CEDEF headquarters had always been rather lively. Dealing with the external issues of the Vongola was not an easy task. Nevertheless, the headquarters was always lively thanks to the attitude of their leader who kept spurting out lame jokes just to liven out the mood.

However, the moment Hibari Kyouya stepped into the headquarters for a visit, the atmosphere immediately tensed up.

Because CEDEF knew the leader of the Foundation would never visit unless a problem had occur, and since he actually came here himself, it could only mean that there was a huge problem.

"How can we help you with this surprise visit, Hibari Kyouya?" Iemitsu broke the silence and approached the aloof Cloud.

"I am here to bring Chrome Dokuro's profile file back to Vongola headquarters." Hibari wasted no time to say out his intention.

Sawada Iemitsu frowned. "But her profile is considered classified. You and Reborn agreed to it. Until Irie Shoichi completes his invention, her information will be kept a secret."

"Yes, but the situation has change."

"Change?"

"The Vindice have struck. Currently, Chrome Dokuro is missing. No one knows where she is. It's only a matter of time till the Vindice attack again." Hibari grimaced. "Bermuda must have found out about her and is adamant in taking her back. For the fact that he struck, he must be getting impatient."

Iemitsu stared at the skylark, his body stiffening as the news hit him. It took a few minutes before he finally reacted. "Damn that Bermuda. If he had waited for a while, things would've gone smoothly. Our wishes are after all the same." Iemitsu clenched his fist. "Do you think Reborn can negotiate?"

Hibari shrugged. "You've to ask the infant yourself. My role was merely to guide Dokuro till she's ready. Anything related to talking or negotiating, you've to ask Reborn."

Iemitsu sighed. "But still, why do you need her files?"

"Now that it comes to this, I highly believe that your son and the other herbivores have the right to know what they exactly are dealing with, that Chrome, a treasured member of the Vongola, is actually the _key_ to end the curse."

**xXXx**

"Bermuda, Jack and the rest didn't manage to catch the girl." Jager told the infant on his shoulder. "Even after they wounded her, she escaped."

"Jack and the rest hurt her?" Bermuda's voice echoed throughout the room. "I thought I specifically ordered for them to bring her back alive."

"When the girl fought back, they've no choice but to use force, Bermuda." Jager explained, but he could sense that Bermuda wasn't happy.

"If anything were to happen to the girl, it'd be all over for all of us." Bermuda scowled as he jumped of Jager's shoulder. "So, next time, do not harm the girl or all our dreams will be shattered."

"Why?"

"Because she's the wielder of the purifying flames."

* * *

**Next fic update will be Subtle: Chapter 2.**

**Next chapter of this fic will hopefully be posted next week.**

**Thank you for your support. Reviews will be greatly appreciated. Till next time readers.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Thanks all for your reviews! Contrary to popular belief, I do read ALL of your reviews xD**

**Anonymous reviews acknowledgments:**

_Shizuka: I'm glad you enjoyed it! :)_

_YukixSnow: I'm glad to see that you seemed excited xD Thanks for an entertaining review once again._

_Zero: Welcome!_

_Hikari: Patience is key!_

_Sam:thank you so much! :)_

**A/N:** I am still alive. One week absence isn't a torture right? Or is it? It's funny how I spent one whole day trying to type one page of The Predator and The Prey but took just two days to type 15 pages of this. Guess I'm weird huh? Sorry for the wait. I wrote 15 pages. Be happy! So Enjoy!

* * *

**Purifying Flames**

Chapter 5

_by deadly-chronicles_

* * *

It had been a few weeks since he last returned to the Vongola mansion, but he was well aware that the atmosphere was definitely different. The moment he stepped inside, Sasagawa Ryohei felt like he was in an entirely different place. The mansion that used to be warm and bright, filled with an extreme amount of positivity and kindred spirit was now tense, dark and rather gloomy. An air of negativity and concern filled it completely, with barely any traces of warmness left.

However, Sasagawa Ryohei wasn't surprise knowing the reason to this intense change. He was in Japan with his sister Kyoko and her friend Haru when he received the distress call from Sawada Tsunayoshi, alongside the news that Vendice had attacked Irie Shoichi and Chrome Dokuro was missing. The moment his brain finally processed the piece of news, he wasted no time and made his way back to Italy, wanting to provide assistance as soon as possible. Chrome Dokuro always had a special spot in each of their hearts. For Sasagawa Ryohei, Chrome was like a sister he vowed to protect. If something had happened to her, he'd do whatever it takes in his abilities to save her.

"Sawada." Ryohei greeted the moment he entered the main hall. He glanced at the mafia boss who was sitting solemnly on the couch, his hands gripping his hair with dark circles below his eyes.

"Hey." Tsuna looked up meeting his gaze and Ryohei could immediately tell that he hadn't slept for days. "Where is Kyoko and Haru?"

"Still in Japan." Ryohei stated. " Bianchi, I-Pin and Lambo will be heading there and guard them. It'll be a good practice for Lambo as a guardian to protect them. He's still young after all."

"I see. That's good. They don't know right?"

"No. I don't want them to worry and I figured it's better to tell them after we are extremely sure what is going on."

Tsuna heaved out a sigh. "I _wish_ I'm sure what's going on."

Ryohei eyed his boss again. His shoulders were slumped and he looked devastatingly dejected. "You look horrible, Sawada."

"I _feel_ horrible." Tsuna grimaced, his jaw tightened and his fists clenched. Ryohei didn't have to guess to know that his boss was upset with himself. "It's been a week already and we still couldn't find her."

"Are you guys still looking?"

"We are." Yamamoto interjected when he entered the main hall with Gokudera. "Gokudera and I are still searching for her everyday but there's nothing."

"Juudaime even try to trace her flame with Irie's new technology, but again we can't detect her at all." Gokudera spoke this time. "It's like…"

"… She completely disappeared." Yamamoto murmured grimly.

Ryohei's eyes widened. He knew what it could mean. His body was already trembling slightly knowing what it could mean but he didn't want to believe it. He extremely refused too.

"There's a possibility that she's already dead…" Tsuna frowned miserably.

"She's not dead." A voice interrupted as the male entered the hall and grabbed Tsuna by the collar. "Sawada Tsunyaoshi, my Chrome isn't dead."

"It's nice to see you back too, Rokudo Mukuro." Gokudera growled. "Now put Juudaime down. We are all as distraught as you." He snarled but Rokudo Mukuro ignored him as he continued staring at the mafia boss.

"Can't your hyper intuition sense it, Sawada Tsunayoshi?" He asked, finally letting him go.

"My hyper intuition can no longer sense her, Rokudo Mukuro. Even if I _want_ too, I can't sense her at all."

"But I _can._ She's still alive. I _know. _However, her presence seems far away, far beyond our reach but I know she's still _alive_. If she's dead, I won't be able to feel her at all, Sawada Tsunayoshi."

The special bond between Chrome and Rokudo Mukuro was something they couldn't understand themselves. If Rokudo Mukuro could indeed sense her, it must mean that she was still alive. To them, hearing that was a relief. However, he did mention that her presence was far away, somewhere beyond their reach and they could only wonder where the hell was she? Which place was so far away that they couldn't even reach or detect her? They were still missing a piece of this puzzle. If they could find it, they probably might be able to guess where she was.

"Who was the last person to see her?" Mukuro asked.

"Probably Irie Shoichi. He is still unconscious so we can't ask him anything." Gokudera answered. As he said that though, something hit him and his eyes widened as it finally occurred to him.

_Irie Shoichi_. That's the missing piece. Gokudera Hayato mentally cursed himself for not realizing this sooner. He was a genius, how could he miss out such a vital detail?

"It's Irie Shoichi! Irie Shoichi is the missing piece!" He exclaimed to the rest but was only met by confused eyes. He sighed before speaking again. "Irie Shoichi was the last one to see Chrome."

"Yes, we all know that already Gokudera Hayato. Tell us something we don't know." Rokudo Mukuro frowned.

Gokudera glared at him but continued talking anyway. "When we found Shoichi, the Vendice was attacking him. Reborn told us that the only reason Vendice would attack was to get Chrome. What if Shoichi was protecting Chrome?"

"Then we should thank Shoichi?" Yamamoto murmured.

Gokudera resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Chrome's room was a mess. Meaning, Vendice must have gotten to her _first_. However, when we arrived, Vendice was only attacking Shoichi and Chrome was nowhere to be seen. If Vendice had gotten Chrome, they would just escape and leave Shoichi alone. The only reason why Shoichi was attacked was because they didn't manage to get Chrome."

"You're losing me to the extreme."

"What I'm saying is Irie Shoichi is the last person to see Chrome _alive_. If what Rokudo Mukuro says is right, that he can still feel Chrome's presence but she seems far away, with these factors, I can safely assume that Irie Shoichi has sent Chrome _somewhere_ to protect her. Now this is where it gets interesting. What has Irie Shoichi been working on recently?"

The room fell silence as each tried to remember what Irie Shoichi had been working on. Tsuna's eyes widened and broke the silence. "A time capsule."

Gokudera nodded. "Yes, a time capsule. Shoichi showed me the plan last time. It looks like the ten year bazooka but instead of sending someone ten years to the future, this bazooka can send someone else to a _specific_ time. I check Shoichi's lab just now and the bazooka was not there. Though we can't be sure until Shoichi wakes up, I think Shoichi used the bazooka on Chrome."

Immediately, all of their eyes widened and Rokudo Mukuro was the first one to speak.

"Gokudera Hayato, what you're saying is that the reason why I can feel that Chrome is alive but she feels so far away is because she's in…"

"Yes. In order to protect Chrome, I think Irie Shoichi sent her to another time."

**xXXxXXxXXx**

_Another time._

Now that Gokudera had mentioned it, it made perfect sense. The reason why he couldn't detect and trace her flame, and why Rokudo Mukuro could sense her presence but she felt so far away. Yet, this was all still an assumption. Until Irie Shoichi regained consciousness, this was the only closest reasonable explanation they had and it didn't help that his hyper intuition kept on telling him that it's true. Furthermore, if it was true, then they would've a problem bringing her back because he knew the time capsule wasn't fully complete. The first one Irie Shoichi had created was a prototype and not yet tested, and it only worked as a one way trip. If Irie Shoichi did use it on Chrome, then there was _no way_ they could bring Chrome back unless they make a new one.

And the person that could make it was currently insentient.

Knowing this, Tsuna pulled his hair in irritation. The thought of Chrome lost in another time while they were stuck here unable to do anything upset him greatly. While he knew Chrome could take care of herself, if she was trapped in another time, the situation was different. Being lost in your own world was not the same as being lost in another. She would be stuck in an unfamiliar surrounding with people she didn't even know feeling lost, scared and confused…

"Juudaime, this is just an assumption. We can't really be sure unless Irie Shoichi confirms it himself." Gokudera told Tsuna, worried because he looked so disturbed.

"My hyper intuition says it's true. And we can't really do anything much until Irie Shoichi regains consciousness…" Tsuna murmured in frustration.

"When that Irie Shoichi wakes up, I'm going to torture him for sending my precious Chrome to somewhere we can't even reach." Rokudo Mukuro said out darkly.

"No, you should thank him instead herbivore."

Rokudo Mukuro grimaced hearing that voice as all eyes shifted towards the door where Hibari Kyouya just entered. In front of him was Reborn but what surprised them was the man standing besides him, a man they didn't expect, the man being the leader of CEDEF, Sawada Iemitsu.

"Hibari-san! Dad!" Tsuna exclaimed clearly surprised by his father sudden arrival.

Hibari stayed silent while Iemitsu grinned. "You look terrible, son." He commented noticing how tired Tsuna was.

"He didn't sleep much this entire week." Yamamoto explained. "You should know why already."

"Yes, I've heard the news from Hibari which is the reason _why_ I'm here." Iemitsu said with his eyes and tone more serious this time.

"Kufufufu, so Hibari Kyouya, why should I thank Irie Shoichi for sending Chrome to another time?" Mukuro murmured, "I thought_ you've_ been enjoying her presence every morning by training her."

"While I _do_ enjoy her presence, she'll be safe in another time than here _for now._" Hibari glared. "Also, it's part of the plan if things go wrong and things are _obviously_ going wrong now." He snorted. He wasn't surprised when they looked genuinely confused.

"Plan?" Tsuna murmured before his eyes shifted to Reborn and gazed at him incredulously. "Is this the thing you're hiding from me Reborn?"

"Chrome Dokuro possesses something that can make us Arcobalenos… normal again, therefore she's becoming a target." Reborn spoke. When everyone was quiet, Reborn decided to continue knowing that they're waiting for his explanation. "After years of research, Verde finally discovered an element that can reverse our curse, a pure and light flame that heals. The purifying flames."

"Purifying flames?"

"The purifying flames can be considered the 9th element. Like its name, it purifies, be it a tainted heart or a dark spell, the flame_ purifies all_. The Arcobaleno curse is like a dark spell so the flame being pure and light can actually_ reverse_ it. However, due to the flames' abilities, the flame itself is rare. According to Verde, perhaps only one out of a million people or more who possesses the flame."

"We also discovered that the flames must be inherited." Iemitsu spoke this time. "You must be of a certain bloodline to inherit the flames. In others words, the flames can only be pass down from one generation to another. After Verde started his research, CEDEF decided to help out as well. Tracing the bloodline was tedious especially when we discovered that those who possessed the flames were always… _killed._"

Iemitsu wanted to explain more about the bloodline but was interrupted by Rokudo Mukuro. "What does all this has to do with Chrome?" He questioned menacingly, clearly unhappy as time was wasted listening to this when they could use the time to try to find Chrome.

Iemitsu sighed. "Because Chrome is_ part_ of the bloodline. She _inherited_ the flames."

"How do you know?"

Sawada Iemitsu sighed knowing that Rokudo Mukuro couldn't be bothered much about anything else other than Chrome. Knowing that he needed to show Chrome was the main part in this, he took out a small microchip and inserted in into his laptop. Almost immediately, a wide screen appeared in front of them revealing the different flame signatures of each Vongola guardians. They looked in awe at the data in front of them which displays different coloured of what looked like blood vessels circulating inside their body.

"CEDEF has been computing the data of your flames throughout the years. This is the data of each guardian, basically showing your flames signature. The different coloured vessels circulating around you shows what time of flames you have. As you already know, each individual has a different flame type. For example, since Tsuna has the Sky flame, you notice that he has all seven coloured vessels circulating his body since the Sky flame is the flame of harmony. For Gokudera Hayato, the dominant vessel circulating in him is red which shows that he is a Storm flame user but if you notice, he has yellow, blue, green and purple vessels as well which means he also possesses some Sun, Rain, Lightning and Cloud flames which allowed him to use the Sistema C.A.I"

"For Yamamoto, Lambo and Rokudo Mukuro, since they only possess one dominant flame- the Rain, Lightning and Mist, you can see that their vessels are only blue, green and indigo respectively. Hibari on the other hand possesses both Cloud and Mist flames thus his blood vessels are a mixture of purple and indigo. Now let us take a look at Chrome."

Iemitsu then switched the files until he finally arrived at Chrome's data which portrays her flame signature. As the rest looked at it, their eyes widened seeing her two coloured vessels. They knew that Chrome was a dominant Mist user; therefore they had expected to see only Indigo signature circulating around her. However other than the indigo signature, they actually saw another kind of vessel that they hadn't seen in any of the other data before- a pure, slightly shining white signature circulating around her body.

"What's that white circulating vessel? I never heard or seen a white coloured flame before." Gokudera murmured, eyes still fixed on the screen.

"_That_," Iemitsu pointed out, "is the Purifying Flames."

* * *

**xXXxXXxXXxXXX**

The walk with Giotto had been pleasant. He was a quiet man and didn't talk much unless he really had something to say. Throughout their walk together, they were mostly accompanied by silence, not awkward silence but a rather peaceful silence. He would speak once in a while, asking if she was fine, if she needed a break or if the walk was affecting her wounds. He never once interrogated her. In fact, his questions were rather genuine; Chrome never once felt that his concern was an act, it felt rather sincere to her. Furthermore, he never really asked her about her, where she came from or who she really was as though he was giving her space. For that, Chrome was thankful for she wouldn't know what to answer if he was to question her since she herself was currently confused.

"U-Umm thank you for showing me around town." Chrome thanked him the moment they returned to the mansion.

"You're welcome." Giotto smiled eyeing the bowing female in front of him. "I need to go back to my office to do more paperwork. Maybe you can explore this mansion again."

She looked up, her amethyst eyes meeting his gaze. "Paperwork? Is there anything I can help with? I've experience with paperwork." She said remembering the times she helped Boss arranged all the Vongola documents which was _a lot._

"You know paperwork?" He blinked genuinely surprised.

Chrome meekly nodded. "Y-Yea. Since I'm imposing on all of you by staying here, I want to be of help."

"Okay then." Giotto smiled again. "Follow me to my office. You can help."

Chrome didn't say anything. She flashed a genuine smile at him as a form of thanks, something which caught him off guard because it looked… gentle and sweet.

Giotto simply returned the gesture and led the way, ignoring the strange beatings of his heart.

Days passed and Chrome spent most of her time in Giotto's office arranging his documents. Since files weren't yet created in this era, the process of arranging papers were more tedious than usual, but she didn't mind as long as she could make herself useful. Usually, Giotto would be in the office with her reading more documents while she arranged them. There were times though that she would be alone in the office as Giotto had errands to do. Today however was different as Giotto wasn't in the office, but she wasn't alone either.

Currently in the office with her was G who made no point in hiding his dislike towards her. While she had been quietly and obediently arranging all the documents seemingly oblivious to her surroundings, she was well aware that G had been staring at her throughout. He didn't even try to be subtle in doing it as he was openly glaring at her with intensity that made her feels small. Whatever the real reason of him being in the office she had no idea, but her gut feeling said that part of the reason was to keep an eye on her. She knew of G's wariness of her, but she wondered if it was necessary for G to stare at her for almost five hours. It was unnerving.

She tried her best to ignore it but soon enough, she began to feel uncomfortable due to his gaze and the overwhelming silence wasn't helping either, thus she spoke.

"U-Umm, is there anything you need, G-san?"

"What do you want from Giotto?" G immediately asked.

_Blunt. Very blunt._

"Nothing really." She honestly answered.

Truth. She didn't want anything from him, if she even had a choice, she didn't even want to be here. She rather be at her own time back with her fellow guardians. If there was anything she wanted from Giotto, it was most probably his help to bring her back to the future, but then they didn't even know that she was from future, so honestly speaking, she didn't really want anything from him.

However looking at G's eyes, she knew that he didn't believe her, or having a hard time to. "I don't trust you." He murmured. "Every part of you is saying suspicious, especially that eye patch."

"I'm not asking you too." She answered sadly. G's wariness towards her reminded her so much of Gokudera Hayato who had a similar trait. Both of them had problems when it came to trusting someone and she vividly recalled Gokudera Hayato not trusting her at first during the ring conflict because of her eye patch. At the memory, her lips curved into a sad smile feeling dejected and homesick all of a sudden.

"Why the hell do you look sad? Tch, I'm not going to apologize for being rude." He snorted.

"A-Ah no. I don't care if you're rude." She murmured earning her a glare from him." Y-You just remind me of someone I know. It makes me miss that person…" She said softly.

G was surprise. That wasn't a statement he expected so he had no idea what to say. "Where the hell are you from?" He ended up asking instead.

She hesitated. G noticed. "Somewhere far away…"

Her voice was slightly croaked but obviously down, yet it held a certain resolve that said 'I won't reveal any more than this.' G though could also tell that despite the resolve, she was genuinely sad.

"Tch, wherever that far away is, I'm sure you'll be able to go back and see all those special to you again so don't look depressed. It's annoying." He grumbled and true, it was annoying. He hated seeing woman cry because it reminded him so much of all the fake tears he saw whenever woman tried to throw themselves at him, or Giotto, or any other guardians for all that matter.

She looked up, her innocent eyes meeting his cold gaze, her lips curving into a small smile, a smile as soft and sweet as her voice. "T-Thank you."

He had no idea why the hell he blushed.

When he realized it, he panicked as he immediately averted his gaze away from her refusing to look at her in the eye and secretly hoping that she didn't notice the blush at all.

"Now, don't get me wrong! I still don't trust you. If possible, sometimes I just want to kick you out, but Giotto seems to trust you and wants you around and I have no fucking idea why! So I'm going to tolerate your presence and eye you more until I find out the fucking reason why!" He yelled a little tad too harsh.

She flinched and blinked continuously definitely confused by his sudden outburst and spurt of vulgarities. Yet, she didn't look upset or angry at all but in fact, her expression was relatively calm. "I understand." She murmured softly and once again, she smiled that gentle sweet smile.

As another blush threatened to crept to his cheeks, it was at that moment G realized that this woman was_ dangerous_, not physically but _emotionally_. She had this affect on men which he knew she herself didn't even realized because she was too goddamn innocent. He wondered if this was the reason why Giotto kept her around because just by looking at her, you actually just have the _urge_ to protect her.

"G-san? Are you okay?" She murmured worriedly as the man seemed tense.

Snapping out of his thoughts, G glared at her again before he finally turned to make his way out. He stopped right in front of the door and turned to look at her again. "Thanks for helping Giotto with his paperwork." He said and then he went out and slammed the door shut leaving Chrome wondering if she had done anything wrong.

**xXXxxXXxXXxXXx**

Trying to forget the situation with G, Chrome avoided paperwork for a few days. If she wasn't at Giotto's office doing paperwork, Chrome would spend her time with Elena whenever Daemon wasn't by her side and the beautiful woman welcomed her presence with open arms. Knuckle would then drop by to check on her wounds with Elena watching and he would then leave before telling her to take care of herself since her injuries were still healing. However, her time spent with Elena was rather limited since Daemon was always usually by her side and Chrome wasn't ready to actually face him yet. So, she spent most of her time with Kojirou since Asari wasn't back yet.

Today was no different. As she played with Kojirou, she suddenly felt the urge of wanting to go out. The first and last time she went out was when Giotto showed her around. That was days ago, which mean she had been cooped in the mansion for days.

Since she really wanted to go out, she asked Giotto about it if she could leave the mansion to take a walk. He chuckled and told her that this mansion wasn't a prison, so she could go out whenever she wanted. Blushing, she took it as a yes and headed outside for a walk.

Exploring the town alone felt different compared to the time when Giotto showed her around. It was rather… exhilarating, yet she was still careful since she was still unfamiliar with this area, so she avoided going outside her comfort zone. The marketplace was as lively as she remembered and she couldn't help but smile at the antics of some merchants advertising their items or forcing people to buy them. She looked around enjoying the feeling of the olden days, freed from the pressure of the modern world. It was somewhat refreshing.

"You're the lady that was with Giotto-san that time!" A voice chirped interrupting Chrome from her thoughts. She turned around and saw a little girl around the age of six looking up at her, her rounded hazel eyes glistening with innocence.

Chrome smiled and patted the little girl's head gently. "Yes, it was me."

The little girl's eyes sparkled more. "Are you Giotto-san's girlfriend?"

"W-What? N-no." Chrome stuttered, her cheeks reddened from the little girl bold question.

"But Giotto-san never walked with a woman before. You're the first so you must be his girlfriend!" The little girl pouted.

She was still blushing as she squatted down to meet the girl's gaze. "What's your name?"

"Aya."

Chrome smiled again. "Aya-chan, I'm not Giotto-san girlfriend. We're just… acquaintances."

"So that means I can still marry Giotto-san when I grow up right?" Aya's eyes shimmered again.

Chrome giggle. "Is that what Aya-chan wants?"

The little girl nodded and beamed. "Yes because everybody wants to marry Giotto-san!"

"Giotto-san must be a very popular man then." Chrome said, her voice soft and gentle as she patted Aya's head gently again.

Aya beamed at her when they suddenly heard a scream.

Instinctively, Chrome pulled Aya to safety towards a dark corner where no one could see them. The crowd had scattered in fear running towards their own home. Wondering what happened, she took a peek and saw a group of six mask men, roaming the market place with weapons at hand as they destroyed stalls and threatened merchants.

"Bandits." Aya stiffened beside her. "They're bad people. They always took our money and they always appear when Giotto-san and his friends aren't on patrol."

Chrome could tell that the townspeople were afraid of those bandits. Their eyes said it all. She watched as the bandits threatened more merchants who held no power when knives were pointed at them. It didn't help that the bandits possessed fires which could burn their stalls in no time and it irked her to just watch.

"Aya-chan, stay here." She whispered before creeping out of the dark corner.

She was a fighter. She couldn't just watch when the innocents were threatened. However, she was also well aware that she didn't have any weapons with her therefore she was at a disadvantage, _but_ she was also aware that she was an illusionist, so constructing illusionary weapon for her to use wasn't a problem.

The problem lied with the fact whether she was willing to compromise her situation. She was stuck in the past, her identity and abilities were still a secret and she rather not used her abilities knowing that if Giotto and the others saw, they would be able tell that she was a Mist-Flame user and not some ordinary woman. Also, she was still injured. How long would she last against six well-built men? And what if there were more hidden and lurking in the corners?

However she knew now wasn't the time to be selfish. Those helpless merchants needed help and as the bandits threatened yet another one with their knives, she knew she needed to act. Seeing a small yet sharp rock on the floor, she didn't even hesitate when she threw it right towards the bandit.

It was a perfect hit.

She didn't run away and didn't even bother to move when the bandit and his friends turned towards her and glared.

"Fuck you lady! Do you have a death wish?" He snarled. Chrome didn't answer.

"Hey, I recognize her. She was with Giotto that time." Another said. Hearing this, the leader; the one she threw the rock at glared at her again and despite the mask, she could tell that he was smirking.

He approached her. Again, she didn't even bother to move. She allowed him to have his way as he gripped her hand tight and sneered at her. "Giotto's woman eh? Now, will he come if I kidnap you?"

Chrome didn't flinch. She stared blankly at the man which only angered him. He raised his fist, wanting to hit her when she suddenly disappeared into mist. The woman he had been gripping was no longer in his hands.

"What the…"

Chrome reappeared behind him and kicked him hard sending the man to the ground. He roared and cursed and the next thing she knew, she was surrounded by all six. She grimaced. They were fast.

Knowing that she needed a weapon, mist flames surrounded her as her spear was constructed and by the time it was ready, the six bandits were already charging. They were well built, muscular and strong so in terms of physical strength, she was at a disadvantage. In terms of speed though, she was faster since she was light. However, she was still injured; therefore her movements were slower than usual which was bad since she was trying to avoid being hit.

She grimaced, using her spear to deflect the daggers they threw at her. When the bandits caught up with her speed, she knew she was really at a disadvantage right now. Part of her just wanted to unleash her illusions and controlled their minds to insanity, or unleash venomous creatures to ravage them, but she went against that plan knowing that it would attract attention and raised questions if their bodies were found. So the only thing she could do now was to defend until she found an opening. After all, there were only six on them so she knew she could hold up and let their confidence run high by thinking that they had her in their hands before finishing them off.

Unfortunately for Chrome though, there weren't only six.

She didn't know how or where it came from, but just as she managed to strike three of them till unconscious, she felt a sharp pain at her back and realized an arrow had pierced her.

_Shit._

She mentally cursed as she dropped to her knees coughing out blood. She heard footsteps coming towards her. She looked up and saw the leader smirking at her. He took out a dagger and raised it. Her vision was beginning to blur as she weakly held out her spear to defend. She waited for the strike to come but it never did.

The next thing she knew, darkness engulfed her.

**xXXxXxxXxxXxxXxx**

When she opened her eyes, she saw a bright light, immediately forcing her to close her eyes again. She vaguely recalled what happened and wondered if she was really dead this time. When she felt that she could move her fingers, she knew that she was still alive, but remembering again what happened, it also meant that since she was alive, the chances were that she was kidnapped.

She opened her eyes again expecting to see that she was tied up on a chair in some dark room but obviously, her expectations weren't met.

Because she was lying on a couch, her hands not even tied and a warm blanket was covering her. Chrome blinked. _Where am I?_

She looked around and saw an unfamiliar room, grey walls surrounding her with a silver desk at the corner piled up with papers. The room was dull and gloomy. No posters on the walls. No decorations. No pictures either. It was as though the person residing here enjoyed solitude, _a lot_.

She tried to move but felt a sharp throbbing pain on her back as well as her abdomen so she stopped and rested back on the couch. She then heard footsteps approaching and she flinched when the door creaked open and a man in full black entered.

Their eyes met and Chrome immediately stiffened.

"You're awake." His cold voice reached her ears like ice.

"Kum- No… Alaude-san." She greeted weakly.

The man merely nodded, went to his desk and sat down like she wasn't there. The next few minutes was accompanied by an overwhelming silence where Chrome thought she could even hear her sweat dripping. Why was she in what she assumed as Alaude's office? What in the world happened?

As though reading her mind, the man soon spoke. "My unit and I found you in town. You were bleeding and unconscious. You're currently in my office at my headquarters." He murmured coldly, his eyes fixed on her.

"O-Oh. T-Thank you. Perhaps, I shouldn't bother you and rest somewhere else?"

"Don't move." He ordered.

"O-Okay."

"Hn."

The silence returned again as neither said another word. Chrome thought she should perhaps close her eyes and rest but couldn't, knowing that his cold eyes were still on her.

_His eyes are scarier than Hibari-san._

She gulped and turned her head so she couldn't see his gaze but it didn't help that she could _feel_ it. It was at this moment she appreciated Hibari's glare more than anything else. At least to her, Hibari Kyouya's eyes were softer and his glare didn't feel as suffocating as _this._

Trying to calm her breathing, she took small breaths and breathed in slowly when she heard his chair moved and his footsteps coming nearer towards her. She tilted her head and once again their eyes met. She immediately felt like hiding inside the blanket.

"Y-Yes?"

"You can fight." He growled. It wasn't a question. It was a statement.

"Huh?"

"I saw you and the bandits."

Her eyes immediately widened.

"You can fight. You're a Mist User and you were holding back from using stronger illusions just now. I saw and_ I can tell_." He eyed her coldly, pulling one of her hand out of the blanket and gripped it tightly so she couldn't escape.

Again, Chrome stiffened. She knew she couldn't run away from this._ He wouldn't let her run away until he had answers._

"Chrome Dokuro," He murmured with his tone harsh and cold, "Who are you _really_?


	6. Chapter 6

**Thank you once again for all your reviews! I tried my best to reply to all of them but if I do miss any of you, I'm really, really, really sorry! But I just want to say that your reviews are what keeps me going! Thanks once again! :)**

_Anonymous acknowledgments:_

sam: Thank you! :)

Shizuka: Sorry for the cliffhanger! forgive me xD

Zero: You're welcome! Thanks for the review!

yukixsnow: Thank you for the congrats 100th reviewer! Yes of course I'm happy. I didn't expect to reach 100 reviews so soon! Thanks for reviewing and reading this fic! :)

nameless: Thank you so much! :)

Hikari: Fangirl alert xD

Kuromu: Thank you so much!

**A/N:** Well, only 14 pages this time but I tried to make it long okay. lol. Sorry for the delay! Busy busy! And it's **Euro2012** season so I spent most of my time staying up watching football. Oops. :/

**Disclaimer: I do not own KHR!**

* * *

**Purifying Flames**

Chapter 6

_by deadly-chronicles_

* * *

_"Chrome Dokuro," he murmured with a cold and harsh tone, "Who are you really?"_

Silence consumed the room as he glared at her coldly while she stared helplessly at the 1st Cloud Guardian in front of her. His grip on her still didn't loosened one bit, obviously meaning that he had no intention in letting her go until she answered it with the truth. She stiffened under his intense gaze feeling very much like a small prey caught by a fearsome predator eagerly waiting to devour. At that thought, Chrome squirmed attempting to loosen her grip to increase her chance, if there was any in the first place of escaping. However, this only caused him to tighten his grip on her, the familiar scowl on his face now deepened as he shot her another intense deadly glare.

She gulped. "I-I…"

His glare intensified. "Don't even think of lying." He warned.

Again, she stiffened. Lying was still an option but she knew better that it was no longer a good idea with that kind of cold warning. Alaude is a cold man; that she could tell. He didn't seem the type to tolerate lies because it would seem like the liar was mocking him. Angering the 1st Cloud Guardian was something she shouldn't do so it wouldn't hurt if she told him the truth right? What harm could it do? Chances were he wouldn't believe her and thought of her as some nutcase. Other possibilities would be that he believe her and would offer to help her. Of course there was also that possibility where he believed her but would downright refuse to help her. Needless to say, thinking of the negatives wouldn't help her right now so Chrome decided to be positive and believe in the fact that Alaude would not doubt her words and would offer to help her. Yes, Alaude would do that, she reminded herself. After all, she couldn't deny that she _did_ need help.

So no harm in telling him the truth, right?

Feeling the grip on her arm tightened, Chrome knew that Alaude was getting impatient. She looked up hesitantly to meet his frightening gaze, the scowl never once left his face. His lips parted to speak again but Chrome beat him to it.

"I-I'm from the future!" She exclaimed, her eyes shut fearing to see his expression.

Silence filled the room once again and Chrome felt his grip on her loosened. She slowly opened her eyes and saw his startled yet confused expression. His eyes widened in a mixture of confusion and shock. The slight doubt seen in his features told her that he was indeed having problems believing that statement, but yet he remained composed and never once did he shrugged her off and proclaimed her as an official nutcase. In fact, Alaude looked like he was willing to hear more; to listen to this proclamation of hers in detail and maybe, _just maybe_, to Chrome, he would believe her after that.

Yes, her proclamation was indeed startling and hard to believe, but her expression was so serious and panicky that Alaude felt the _need_ to actually hear more. So he didn't end the conversation. He wasn't an unreasonable man thus he allowed her to explain. If her statement was indeed true, then he knew that this woman needed help, _a lot._

"Tell me more." He murmured loud enough for her to hear.

"I-I didn't know how it happen. First, I was attacked. I managed to escape but they kept on chasing me. Then, I bumped into a friend who helped me out. We were cornered when suddenly he pulled me to the edge of the cliff and pushed me down. I remembered falling. Next thing I knew when I woke up, I was at the mansion with people who're supposed to be 400 years dead!"

By the time she completed her sentence, Chrome was already hyperventilating. She was damn sure that she sounded so hysterical that if Alaude didn't think of her as insane _before_, he would probably think she was _now_. Again, she hesitantly looked up expecting to see a mocking glare or any expression that labelled her as mentally unstable, but surprisingly, she was met by a relatively blank face.

He didn't say anything, he merely gazed at her silently and she wondered if he even heard her. She was still hyperventilating by the way and even when she tried to calm her breathing, she couldn't because she was_ too_ panicky.

Yet again, he surprised her when he held her into a sitting position, placing one of his hands gently on her back and slowly rubbing it in circles in an attempt to calm her.

"Breathe. Slowly breathe Dokuro." He whispered as he continued to rub her back. It surprisingly worked for she slowly was able to even out her breathing. He rubbing her back was rather comforting as his touches were strangely warm and soothing despite his cold demeanour. Slowly, Chrome was finally able to breathe normally again and she looked up to him, blinking in confusion wondering what the hell had happened.

Did the cold Alaude just comfort her?

She continued blinking when Alaude pushed her back onto the couch making her lie down once again. He didn't say anything, his gaze still expressionless as he let go of his grip on her hand, placing it back under her blanket before tucking her in.

"Rest for the night. We'll talk more tomorrow." Was all he said before he walked towards his table, put off the fire in the lamp that was lighting up the room, headed outside and slammed the door shut, leaving Chrome alone pondering in her thoughts.

**xXXxXXxXXxXXxXXx**

He had to admit that seeing Giotto looking somewhat confused and concerned was something new to him and slightly _amusing_. Lampo wasn't one to hang out with the rest of the Vongola unless it was absolutely necessary, and by _absolutely necessary_, it meant either he was completely_ bored_ or when there was a mission. It wasn't like he hated their presence. In fact, he actually enjoyed spending time with them. It was just that he preferred to stay in his castle where most of his needs were met. He was after all a prince. He enjoyed being pampered, but in the Vongola mansion, being pampered was out of the question for everyone was expected to be independent since they were all… grown ups.

However despite the fact that he loved being in his castle since he could get almost anything there, he couldn't deny that it was boring at times, which was why he chose to visit the Vongola mansion today after missing out the recent dinner Giotto had organized. At first, he just wanted to drop by Giotto's office and said hello before walking around the mansion, but after seeing Giotto's somewhat worried expression, he decided to linger in the office for a while more to observe. After all, Giotto had always struck him as someone who was calm and collected; therefore seeing him somewhat disoriented was rather… amusing.

Lampo watched as Giotto stared at his paperwork, before glancing at the door and then looked out of the window. He kept on doing this to the point that his paperwork never once decreased as he kept glancing at the door. Lampo might be a spoilt brat, slightly dumb and lazy but he was smart enough to tell that Giotto's actions seemed to mean that he was waiting for something… or_ someone._

Tired of staring at the worried Giotto, Lampo finally chose to ask him what was wrong.

"What're you worried about?" He lazily asked stifling yet another yawn.

Giotto frowned slightly before glancing at the door yet again. "She's not back yet." He murmured.

It was soft, but Lampo heard and it took great skills on his part not to fall off the couch he was on. "Huh?"

Giotto sighed this time not seeing Lampo's obvious confusion. "She went out for a walk in the afternoon. Dinner has already past and she's not back yet. It's getting late and it's dangerous for a lady to be out alone at night. I want to look for her, but G said it's not that late so we should wait for a while but I'm worried. What if something happen to her? What if she's lost? She's not familiar with this town…"

Lampo gaped, his eyes wide due to the usually calm and collected boss sudden outburst over a_ lady_. He blinked continuously wondering if had heard things right. Giotto was actually worried about a woman? Lampo wondered if he had been lazing around in his castle too much that he actually missed the signs of Giotto being interested in a woman. Heck, if he visited the Vongola mansion more often, he might be able to see some signs. Perhaps he had been away from the mansion for too long…

Seeing his confusion, Giotto sighed again and scratched his head. "Ah forgive me Lampo. I just realized you haven't met Chrome yet since you weren't here during the last dinner."

Lampo blinked again trying to absorb all the details. "So…" He scratched his head. "You're acting this way because your girlfriend is missing?"

"Girlfriend?" It was Giotto's turn to blink.

"You said this lady isn't back yet and judging from the way you act, you seem really worried and concern about her well-being so I'm assuming she's your girlfriend because if she isn't, you won't be too worried, right?"

"But she isn't my girlfriend."

Now Lampo was really confused. Had he really been away from this mansion for that long?

Sensing his friend's confusion yet again, Giotto smiled slightly and told him about Chrome, how he found her unconscious in a dump and brought her back here to be treated and he continued on and on. By the time Giotto finished explaining, Lampo was still scratching his head.

"Strange," Lampo spoke, "for someone who is like a stranger, you really worry _a lot_ about her. It's like you've a crush on her or something."

He barely noticed the slight blush on his boss's cheeks but somehow he saw it and his eyes widened again.

"You _do_ have a crush on this Chrome." Lampo grinned.

"I don't." Giotto denied.

"But you're blushing."

"Any man would blush after being asked that, especially since the woman in question is… Never mind, wait till you meet her in person. You'll know what I mean."

"Why?" Lampo grinned again. He was enjoying this. Giotto seemed like a different person talking about this Chrome. No longer that calm and collected, Giotto seemed like any other ordinary man who he was currently having fun teasing. "Is she a cute lady?"

Giotto stiffened. "W-Well…"

Lampo didn't get a chance to hear the answer as G suddenly burst into the room breathing heavily. "Giotto! The bandits are attacking the town!"

Giotto's expression immediately changed. The bandits were attacking town. Chrome was in town and she's not back yet. What if…

Giotto shook his head pushing those thoughts away. He looked at G with a serious expression and G understood what it meant.

"I'll gather everyone." G told him and ran out of the room.

Lampo sighed. "My, my, I just arrived and the bandits already attacked?"

"Well Lampo, sorry to say you can't laze around yet." Giotto murmured. His tone was firm, his expression serious and his orange eyes shimmered with conviction. Putting on his famous black cloak, he headed out. "Because we've a town to protect."

**xXXxXXxXXxXXxXXxXXx**

When they reached town, it wasn't a surprise that the bandits were gone. Bandits had always been exceptionally fast; they had always attacked quickly and left as quickly as well after getting what they wanted. Frowning, Giotto looked for any damages done and was glad when he found out that no one really got hurt and most damages were on the stalls and not the residents' areas. He offered the merchants assistance to build their stalls once again and get their business back up and running in which they gladly accept. He then joined the others in gathering information regarding the bandits as well as trying to search for her.

"You still can't reach Alaude?" Giotto asked as he roamed around town.

G shook his head. "He's strangely out of reach. Maybe he's busy with one of his investigations."

Giotto remained silent. By now, he and his friends had already explored the entire town receiving enough information, but he still couldn't find her. Though, he did hear something interesting from the townspeople, something about a girl with an eye patch fighting off the bandits. The thought of Chrome fighting the bandits was strangely_ not_ surprising. After all, her aura seemed off thus Giotto never thought of her as an ordinary lady. Hearing the description from the townspeople, he was even more convinced that the woman they were talking about was Chrome. Question was, if she did fight the bandits, where the hell was she now?

"Hey Giotto, I talked to a little girl named Aya and she said she saw everything." Elena murmured. "Apparently, Chrome was the one that fought the bandits."

"Seriously? She sure doesn't seem like the fighting type at first look." G scoffed. "So where is she now?"

"Well, Aya freaked out. She said something bad happened and Chrome was surrounded by those men, but before the bandits could finish her off, someone saved her, a man in black trench coat with platinum blonde hair. Aya said that man then carry her off and went somewhere." Elena continued.

"Alaude." Daemon murmured.

"So Alaude has her and didn't inform us? That's surprising." Knuckle pondered. "But at least, she is safe. Isn't that good, Giotto?"

"Yea, so don't worry Giotto. This Chrome person is safe now since Alaude is with her. Alaude may seem cold but I'm pretty sure he won't bully her. Actually, _I'm not_ _sure_ but oh well." Lampo yawned.

"Relax Giotto," Cozart said this time, "She'll be fine with Alaude."

"Yea…" Giotto whispered.

Yes, she would be fine. Alaude was an honourable man. He wouldn't do anything to hurt an acquaintance of a friend, even if he had a bad first meeting with her. At least, he knew that she's safe, that Alaude manage to come to her on time. She was with Alaude now so she would definitely be safe. He was glad, he was thankful to Alaude, but yet, what was this heavy feeling in his heart?

**xXXxXXxXXxXXxXXxXXx**

Amethyst eyes slowly opened taking in the dull surroundings. She blinked continuously trying to remember where she was and seeing the grey walls, it immediately hit her that she was in Alaude's office. Memories of last night came back to her instantaneously, bolting her upwards as she wondered if it had all been a dream. She vividly recalled telling the stoic Alaude that she was from the future and his reaction was rather guarded. She also remembered that she had hyperventilated and he had actually comforted her and calmed her breathing. Messaging her head that was throbbing painfully since she had forcefully got up, Chrome assumed that it was all perhaps a dream. But she was in Alaude's room so did the conversation really happen last night?

She was snapped out of her thoughts when she felt a soft thud on her legs. Opening her eyes, she saw new sets of clothes, male clothes, at the edge of the couch she was in. She turned and saw those cold eyes looking at her and she wondered when in the world he had entered because she didn't felt his presence entering at all. She fought back her blush as she greeted the male.

"A-Alaude-san."

He nodded in acknowledgement before pointing towards those new set of clothes. "I don't have dresses here, so I can't provide you with any. Those shirts are the smallest size and it should fit you. Go shower and change. The shower is over there." He ordered pointing towards the left. "And be careful not to hurt your injuries. I only stopped the bleeding last night, but they're still fresh."

For a man of a few words, Chrome considered that he had just spoke a lot. "A-Ah okay. T-Thank you." She stuttered as she got up from the couch. She hesitantly looked at him wondering if she should ask the question in her mind.

"Speak up if you've a question." He murmured and Chrome wondered if he could actually read her mind.

"Well, last night…"

"We'll talk about it after you change. It's an interesting proclamation." He said monotonously but Chrome swore she saw a slight smirk and she suddenly dreaded wondering what would happen after she had changed.

So, she did blurt the truth out to him. Now, what would happen next? Chrome sighed as she stepped into the shower. _Guess I'll find out after this._

**xXXxXXxXXxXXxXXxXXx**

There were a few scenarios Chrome had expected after she had changed and needed to face Alaude. He forcing her to stay by his side for the rest of the day was _NOT_ one of them. Honestly speaking, she had actually expected him to interrogate her, or force some truth out of her but no, the moment she stepped out of the shower, he had merely asked her to follow him around. That was it. He didn't even say anything as she followed him around the department. No questions. No mockery tones. Just silence. Chrome felt she was like his shadow following him around with no words said. God knows how long she had followed him. When she slowed down, he would glare at her and she would quicken her pace and walked beside him. He had been quite literal when he said _stay by his side._

Unable to handle the silence anymore, Chrome decided to break it. "U-Umm, why must I follow you around?" She asked hesitantly.

"It's easier to keep an eye on you that way." He answered.

"For what?"

He suddenly stopped walking and to her upmost surprise or _horror_, she was suddenly pinned against the wall though he was still gentle enough not to hurt her wounds, as he glared at her with such intensity, their faces barely inches apart. She was really trying hard not to blush, but it was damn hard in this_ kind_ of position.

"You told me you're from the future," He began to speak, his face still very close to hers that she could practically feel his hot breath on her. "It's hard to believe but I know you're not lying. You sounded too distraught to lie. You've abilities that very few in this era have. You're a Mist user, which means you can control flames. Not all can control flames, only a few families can in this time and the Vongola is one of them. So, since you can control flames and you're not part of the Vongola in this time, neither do you seem to be in any other family, there are chances that you're actually from the future."

Chrome blinked. Even though her face was very red due to their current position, she actually managed to speak. "So you actually believe in the possibility that I'm from the future? You don't think that I-I'm… crazy?"

He moved away slightly staring straight into her good eye. "Why not? Time-travelling may be far fetch but I don't think it's impossible. I've to be open minded. You coming from the future is still a possibility."

Chrome breathed a sigh of relief hearing that he actually had no problems believing that fact, though the relief immediately disappeared when he leaned even closer than before.

"_However_," He continued, his lips now close to her ears and he smirked as he felt her tensed up against him. "Some rival groups after the Vongola can also control flames so you can still be an enemy and could be simply lying to me about the future crap to get close to us. I am not taking any chances, _Dokuro_. I'm putting you close to me so I can _observe_ you. If I feel that you're really from the future, then I'll help you." He said looking intently into her eyes now.

She blushed and he smirked again before he leaned closer once again. "_But_ if I find out that you're an enemy and try to do something that threatens the safety of this town…" He whispered into her ears, "…then I'll kill you myself."

Her entire body went rigid as those words were said. His tone was menacing, he wasn't kidding. He was serious when he said he would kill her if he discovered that she was enemy. Her breathing quickened, partly because of his menacing tone and partly also because his body was still pressing against hers. She could still feel his hot breath against her neck, making her entire body tensed while her knees felt weak. And while she was blushing profusely, he didn't seem to mind at all. In fact, it didn't look like he was letting go of her anytime soon.

"Do you understand it now, _Chrome Dokuro_?" He whispered into her ears once again in his husky voice before leaning back slightly to meet her eyes. She quickly nodded wanting him to get off her and gave her the space she _badly_ needs right now because she definitely couldn't stand this torture anymore. It was extremely embarrassing.

Seeing her reaction, Alaude smirked and took a few steps back, giving the space she needed and it took a lot of strength in Chrome's part not to fall on her knees right there and then because her legs were that wobbly due to the violation of personal space just now.

"Good." Alaude then said before ordering her to follow him around once again.

She complied and as she walked beside the 1st Cloud guardian, her face still flushed because of what he did, she made a mental note to herself not to piss the 1st Cloud guardian off because he could not only beat or bite you to death, but he could even embarrassed you to death like what he did_ just now_ if he wanted too.

She couldn't lie; she had been in that kind of position before, being pinned against a wall by a man. Xanxus did it to her when he was pissed. Hibari and Mukuro did it to her when they sparred. Katou Julie did it to her to flirt though Adelheid never failed to drag him away seconds later by forcefully pulling his ear.

But Alaude… She had never felt such intensity before. Just by being pinned by him, she felt like he had_ complete control_ over her and because of that, she was afraid. At least with Xanxus, there were still chances to appease him even if it's slim. For Hibari and Mukuro, the chances were higher because she knew they either did it to _tease_ or was caught up in the sparring moment. For Julie, she could just kick his crotch and he would stumble away or Adelheid could do it for her.

But yet again for Alaude… She was like a timid mouse completely at his mercy, under his control. Maybe because she didn't know him like how she knew Xanxus, Mukuro or Hibari thus that was why she was more afraid. Yes maybe that's why.

But whatever it was, afraid or not, Chrome mentally told herself never to anger Alaude if possible because he was definitely intense,_ much more_ intense than any other males she ever knew.

And she must follow this man around _all day._ Oh wow.

* * *

**xXXxXXxXXxXXxXXxXXx**

Popping yet another lollipop into his mouth, the blonde made his way towards the mansion, a place he hadn't been to for about months now. Along with mini mosca, he had been travelling around for months, thus being away from the mansion for a rather long period. It wasn't like he disliked this mansion, in fact he loved it. His allegiance would always be the Vongola and that would not change. After all, the Vongola are a warm family that would usually accept everyone and many would just feel welcome; Spanner included when he first joined them. However even with his allegiance, Spanner loved inventions more than anything else and although being in the Vongola was heart-warming, with Irie Shoichi as the other technician, he found himself with nothing much to do since Irie's expertise was more than enough. He was bored and Tsuna noticed, thus Tsuna granted him permission to travel, not wanting his allegiance to the Vongola being the obstacle to his dream. Spanner accepted feeling grateful and he had been travelling since then, telling Sawada Tsunayoshi that he would come back when the Vongola needed help.

So here he was back at the mansion because he received an emergency call from Sawada Tsunayoshi a few days ago. He had rushed back to Italy because he had to admit he was worried as Tsuna sounded so… dead and now that he was standing in front of him, he couldn't deny that he wasn't concern because Tsuna looked _dead_. Gosh, the poor guy looked like he hadn't slept for days… or perhaps weeks.

"Hey Spanner. It's been a while. Glad you can come back. Sorry to bother you while you're travelling." Tsuna smiled as he greeted the blonde.

Spanner didn't say anything. He shifted his attention to his new Mini Mosca and as if on cue, the robot twirled around and minutes later, another lollipop popped out of it. Handing the lollipop over to its creator, Spanner took it and passed it to the half-dead Sawada Tsunayoshi.

Tsuna blinked and stared at the lollipop in confusion. "Why are you giving me a lollipop?"

"Because you look like a zombie." Spanner bluntly said. "You need to recharge. Sweets will provide you the energy."

Tsuna chuckled as he took the lollipop. "Well, only temporary energy."

"Temporary is better than nothing." Spanner shrugged. "So what happened?"

Spanner could immediate sense the change in atmosphere as Tsuna tensed up. The blonde stared at the brunet who looked pained for a moment before he spoke. "Irie Shoichi is in a coma. He was attacked by the Vendice. So far he's showing no sign of regaining consciousness."

"Can I visit him?"

"Of course you can. Why should I forbid you?"

"Then show me the way."

Tsuna led him towards the medical room where the two of them then stood in silence as they watched the unconscious technician. Spanner couldn't deny that Shoichi was in a bad shape. He looked battered up. Medical equipment surrounded him, some checking his vitals, some providing him liquid since it was obvious he couldn't drink and there was one to even help him to breathe. It was that bad. He didn't look he would be waking up anytime soon and Spanner refrained himself from thinking negative thoughts. He kept on reminding himself that Irie Shoichi was a strong man, he would survive through this. It would just take time.

"So what else?" Spanner broke the silence. "Something else happened right? The whole atmosphere of this mansion isn't as lively as before. Something had happen other than this. "

Tsuna hesitated as he sighed. "We have a reason to believe that Chrome Dokuro is currently in another time, sent by Shoichi's new time capsule."

Spanner twirled the lollipop in his mouth as he looked at the Mafia boss, urging him to continue. Leading him out of the medical room, Tsuna then explained the entire situation to Spanner starting from the Vendice attack on Chrome, why she was targeted and he even mentioned the purifying flames. Tsuna then told him how Shoichi had helped her by sending her to another time in order to protect her. He then mentioned the fact that the time capsule Shoichi used was only a prototype thus it worked only as a one-way trip hence it was impossible to bring her back.

Once Tsuna was done, Spanner twirled his lollipop again and stared blankly at the ceiling, absorbing all the new information that was given to him. "You want me to invent a new time capsule to bring her back." He then said.

Tsuna nodded. "W-Well, I know you're in the middle of travelling so if you can't it's-"

"I'll do it." He cut him off.

"Really?"

"Chrome Dokuro is part of the Vongola. We should help family members when they're in need. Isn't that what you taught us?" Spanner smiled slightly.

"Thank you. Really. Is there anything you need to work on it?"

"Yes. I need assistants. Irie's time capsule is a complicated invention. He showed me the plan once and it isn't easy to create. He took years working on it alone. If I'm working alone, I can't promise fast completion. It's better to have help."

"I see." Tsuna thought about it. "Giannini is currently with the 9th repairing some devices. I can call him back to help out once he's done. Other than him, I've no other technician."

"Well, two is better than one." Spanner murmured.

"Juudaime! I can help out too!" Gokudera appeared to offer his aid.

"If I remember correctly, Gokudera Hayato is genius. You're good at physics and mathematical laws. That will be helpful." Spanner said as he stared at the Vongola's Right Hand man. "But you're the Vongola Right hand man. Don't you've other duties as well?"

Gokudera grimaced. "As for that, Juudaime, I request for Yamamoto Takeshi to replace me as the right hand man for the time being while I'll help out with the time capsule. I won't be able to fulfil my duties as the right hand man if I'm busy with an invention, but Yamamoto is more than capable."

"Gokudera…"

"It doesn't matter." Gokudera said. "What matters now to all of us is to help Chrome right? Don't worry Juudaime. We're all in this together."

Tsuna nodded with a smile. "Yamamoto and I will settle the arrangements then. If you need anything, be it equipments or whatever, just inform us. We'll try our best to provide everything you need for the invention."

"That's great. We'll start now." Spanner said. He glanced at Mini Mosca and soon, it twirled again before another lollipop popped out. Taking it, he passed it to Gokudera. "Here, you'll need that."

"Lollipop?" Gokudera questioned.

"It'll give you energy." Spanner explained again. "We're going to have sleepless nights, _lots_ of sleepless nights."

"Then I rather have coffee." Gokudera grumbled.

As if hearing his grumbles, Mini Mosca twirled again and the next thing he knew, a cup of hot coffee appeared on the tray held by its robotic hands. Gokudera gawked. "What else can this robot provide?" He exclaimed obviously stunned.

"You don't want to know," Spanner blandly said.

Tsuna watched with a smile as the two walked towards Irie's lab to create the time capsule. Gokudera's words kept on playing in his mind as he walked around the mansion when he then saw Sasagawa Ryohei with the medical team discussing the possibility of using Sun Flames to increase the rate of healing for Irie Shoichi. He walked past Rokudo Mukuro and Hibari Kyouya who ignored their differences for once to be in the same conference room with his father to help on CEDEF's research regarding the Purifying flames. He then made his way to Yamamoto Takeshi who was busy liaising to get the proper tools and equipments needed for the new invention and while all of them was busy here in Italy, in Japan, Lambo was doing his best as Kyoko's and Haru's protector so that the rest of them here wouldn't worry and could focus on the situation here.

Tsuna smiled. Gokudera was right. They were all in this together because they were all contributing in different ways. Gokudera was using his expertise to help Spanner with the invention, Yamamoto took charge of Gokudera's right hand man duties to reduce the burden on Gokudera, Sasagawa Ryohei working on ways to heal Shoichi better while Rokudo Mukuro and Hibari Kyouya were willingly working together for once. They all had different roles but all of them shared the same goal: To help Chrome.

And there was another reason for doing all this, even when some of them still refused to admit due to their pride and high egos, but the reason were obviously clear.

Because they are a family; the Vongola Family.


	7. Chapter 7

**Thanks all for the awesome reviews! You don't know how much they mean to me :)**

_Anonymous acknowledgement:_

Sam: Thank you so much! :)

Shizuka: Sorry to give you all the feels xD

yukixsnow: Ah yes he's falling~ falling~ Chrome is such a lucky girl xD

Zero: No problemo!

Hikari: Sorry for the wait xD

nameless: Thanks so much! :)

Suzuki: Thank you! I'm glad you are liking this! :)

**A/N:** So... I took like a week to get this chapter done? Because I kept on procrastinating. Forgive me guys. It's just that when you put me in front of a tv with football matches on every night, I'll just forget about everything else and only remember football. Lol. So, around 16 pages this time! It's long, so forgive me. Unbeta-ed!

**I do not own KHR**

* * *

**Purifying Flames**

Chapter 7

_by deadly-chronicles_

* * *

To say that he was restless was an understatement. Rokudo Mukuro was currently_ more_ than restless. For the past few minutes, he had been prancing around the conference room as though he owns it. He would stand up, walked around and then stopped, closed his eyes, tried to sense Chrome and when he did sensed her, he would sit and settle down quietly, but this only lasted for a few minutes because after that, he would prance around the room and repeat the process_ again and again_. If he was alone in the conference room, it wouldn't matter but the thing was, he wasn't alone and he walking around the room endlessly was beginning to annoy the other person with him. Sawada Iemitsu had left them for a while to get some things, leaving Hibari Kyouya alone with the very man he detested. He had already found him annoying when he was just motionless, now that he was walking around endlessly like a restless kid with high sugar content, Hibari found him even _more annoying._

He wasn't an unreasonable man though, he knew that Rokudo Mukuro was worried about Chrome; therefore he was really trying to keep his cool, but heck everyone else was worried as well but they didn't seem to do the things they did when they're restless, like Sawada Tsunayoshi flying around the mansion for example or Ryohei screaming 'extreme' every few seconds because he was too damn restless. The Vongola Guardians did strange things when they were restless and he wasn't going to elaborate on all of them, and hell even he the cool Hibari Kyouya was aggravated over this but that's not the point. The point was, everyone else was restless as well but they can freaking remain calm, so why can't Rokudo Mukuro just fucking keep still? Hibari Kyouya concluded that perhaps Rokudo Mukuro was just a moronic idiot.

"Can you fucking sit down, herbivore?" He finally growled, unable to tolerate it any longer.

Rokudo Mukuro sneered in irritation. "Shut up Hibari Kyouya. You do not know how I feel." He scoffed.

"Everyone is as worried as you."

Mukuro grimaced. "You do not understand. Chrome is my…"

Yes, they did not understand. Chrome is very important to him. Without her, he wouldn't be here. Once upon a time, he was just a hateful man seeking only revenge and his only priority was to destroy the Mafiaso he despised so much. Then one day, fate decided to go against him and he was locked up in Vendicare, forcing him to find a vessel to connect with the outside world and he found it in a form of a helpless 13 year old girl who was about to and was in fact _ready_ to die. He had to be honest, at first she was just a vessel and _merely_ a vessel, nothing more, just a tool for him to use.

However slowly, that mere vessel had somehow softened his cold heart due to the fact that she was just so _oblivious_ and _innocent_, never once showed that she was afraid of him or hated him even though_ she knew_ that he was just using her. The girl made him felt needed and made him feel that there was actually somewhere he could _belong_. Slowly, she actually gave him the desires to protect the people he and she cared about because he knew it would make her happy. That mere vessel suddenly became his light or salvation to an extent because believe it or not, she had saved him. She had pulled him out from the impending darkness that would have trapped him in a dark world forever. As time passed, Chrome became an important person to him because she was his light, his saviour, his friend, his….

"...My anchor." Mukuro finally said. "She completes me. No, she balances me out, that's why. Without her, I'll feel…"

"Lost." Hibari added.

Mukuro's eyebrows twitched as he stared at the skylark. "How do you know?"

"Because… I feel the same way." Hibari admitted returning his glare.

Silence filled the room as the two stared at each other contemplating what to say. They hated each other, that's a fact, but whenever it came to Chrome, despite their vast differences, these two seemed to always share the same thoughts.

"That being said," Hibari broke the silence, "it doesn't mean I agree with you behaving like a moronic herbivore in this conference room."

"Kufufufu, if it's not for Chrome, I would have long shred you into pieces without mercy."

"The feeling is mutual." Hibari blandly said glaring at man before him. His hands were already on his tonfa while Rokudo Mukuro was already preparing to unleash his trident anytime. Easily said, they were ready to claw each other any moment now if not for the sudden interruption.

"Well hell, it's nice to see you two getting along _so well_." Sawada Iemitsu mocked the moment he entered the conference room again with the files he needed, looking at the two men who were glaring at each other with the intention to kill. "Well glaring is better than you two clawing at each other. Honestly speaking, I actually had expected this room to be a mess the moment I come back. Well good that it isn't."

Again, the two men said nothing and continued glaring, completely ignoring Iemitsu's presence, in which he could only sigh. "You know, both of you are so completely protective over Chrome that I wonder what will happen if she gets married. I mean, you guys will probably fight it off for the right to walk her down the aisle."

That seemed to catch their attention so Iemitsu decided to continue. "Though I can easily solve it by walking her down the aisle myself." He laughed

"We won't let that happen." Both of them snarled.

Iemitsu ignored them and continued on rambling. "But then again, knowing you two, you guys won't be arguing about who will walk her down the aisle, but more too which one of you will be the groom!" Iemitsu grinned. "But of course I can easily solve that as well by making my son the groom!"

It was only when he completed his sentence that Iemitsu felt the death glares on him. He blinked looking at the two men in front of him who looked like they were ready to kill him anytime. Laughing nervously, he gulped. "Yo, what's up with the death glares?"

"Say something about who Chrome will marry again and we'll ensure you a slow and painful death." Both of them said and again Iemitsu gulped because they sounded serious. In his mind, he was repeatedly telling himself _never_ to mess with possessive and protective men.

"Relax," Iemitsu tried to grin, "I'm just kidding! Chrome is free to marry whoever she wants! Hahaha!" He tried to laugh but again was met by the death glares. Knowing that this was no longer a safe topic, Sawada Iemitsu quickly changed it, "And besides, we're here to research on the Purifying Flames, so let's continue!"

He couldn't describe the immense relief he felt when Hibari and Mukuro threatened him no longer as they continued reading all the files given to them. He found himself able to breathe again, no longer suffocated by their death glares. As he too continued to read his file once again, Iemitsu couldn't help but to feel sorry for Chrome and her potential suitors,_ especially_ her potential suitors. With basically two highly protective and possessive men by her side, it would be most likely that they would scare any men who tried to court Chrome.

Well, like he had thought, _never ever_ messed with possessive and protective men.

**xXXxXXxXXxXXx**

He had seen time capsules for a few times. He considered the ten year bazooka as one, and most of the other times, he only saw time capsules on some science fiction books of television shows. Never did he think that one day he would help invent one. Staring at the master plan Irie Shoichi had created, Gokudera Hayato scratched his head again and again wondering where to begin. Spanner wasn't kidding when he said that Irie Shoichi's time capsule was a complicated invention because_ it was._ Now staring at the master plan which looked more like a maze puzzle to him with complicated equations and horrendous handwritings, Gokudera Hayato wondered how long he would take to decipher it.

"Irie Shoichi is a visionary," he mumbled as he tied up his hair and put on his glasses as he began to think.

"He is." Spanner answered. "Honestly, most of the time I don't know what is in that head of his. His inventions had always been far-fetched, a true visionary."

"Well in fact he is. It seems that from this master plan, Irie Shoichi is planning to insert different timelines in the time capsule to allow the user go to different specific times." Gokudera explained as he deciphered the master plan. "From this plan, it seems that the prototype only has one timeline inserted."

"What timeline is it?" Spanner asked.

Gokudera grimaced. "He didn't mention it here."

"You do know that in order to bring Chrome back, we need to know the time she was sent to?" Spanner sighed. "The last thing we need is for us to screw up and transport ourselves to a different time instead."

"In the end we still need Irie Shoichi to wake up. This is infuriating." Gokudera grumbled.

"We can still start inventing the time capsule and hope that Irie Shoichi wakes up on time to tell us the timeline he had sent Chrome to." Spanner stated. "Is there a way to speed up the healing process?"

"Ryohei said that sun flames might work, but we only have one Sun Flame user here. It won't make much difference." Gokudera murmured when a thought suddenly hit him."But…"

"But?" Spanner enquired.

"He is not the only Sun Flames user in this world." Gokudera beamed in excitement before he rushed to the communication device causing Spanner to blink at him in confusion.

Mini Mosca tugged Spanner's shirt seemingly confused by Gokudera's antics as well as they stared at him who was waiting patiently for the line to be connected. After a good thirty seconds, he was finally connected.

"Oei baseball freak, what took you so long?" Gokudera scowled.

"Sorry! I was busy liaising. Man, right hand man duties are tough. I don't know how you survive it. I'll respect you more after this," Yamamoto grinned at the other line.

"Tch, whatever. Anyway, I need your help."

"What is it?"

Gokudera stayed silent for a while as he wondered about the pros and cons. Will they even agree to help? Is it wise to drag more people in this situation? However, currently, there's not much choice. Irie Shoichi needs to heal faster and one way to achieve it is this. Realizing that there are likely to be more pros than cons, he started explaining, "You see…"

**xXXxXXxXXxXXx**

He began to believe that peace was something he would never achieve, be it in this real world or the afterlife. He had given up hoping to feel peace in the afterlife because he knew he wouldn't, judging from all the horrible things he had done. He firmly believed that he would be thrown to hell once he died so he doubted he would ever achieve peace there; therefore he actually hoped to feel some sort of peace when he was still alive.

However, it seemed impossible for him with his current job and the people that surrounded him. Having to deal with a maniac prince, a baby who loves money too much, a feminine male who has a fetish over dead bodies as well as other guys, a comrade who has a huge crush on his boss and a boss that throws on a rampage every few minutes, Squalo now believed that he was doomed to _never_ be at peace. As he heard yet another crash coming from outside his room, he stomped out in frustration wondering what the hell happened.

"VOIII WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?" He yelled as he saw the mess outside with pieces of shattered glasses were everywhere, some broken and burnt chairs as well expensive vases that are now non-existence. In simple words, the main hall was now a complete mess and he didn't have to guess twice to know who was responsible.

"Shishishi, boss is mad because he ran out of tequila." The grinning prince told him as he evaded yet another glass. "And also because Lussuria hasn't finish cooking his steak."

Squalo gaped. "And none of you even consider giving him a new bottle of tequila?" Squalo grimaced wondering if his team was indeed idiots or just pretending to be idiots.

"I'm a baby. I don't know what tequila is." Mammon said and Squalo actually had the urge to kick him, but he resisted it and chose to stare at Belphegor instead.

"I'm a royal prince. I don't drink tequila so I don't know how it looks like. Shishishi." Belphegor grinned and hearing this, Squalo already has his hands on his sword, but decided to maintain his cool and glare at Levi instead.

Levi scratched his head. "Well, usually it's always you that give boss his new bottle of tequila so I've no idea where to get it."

Squalo actually froze. The man who has a huge crush on his boss has no idea where to find the boss's favourite drink. Does anyone else here actually know where the storeroom is located, anyone other than him? If it's not for Xanxus's yelling, Squalo would've probably stood there still frozen musing over the fact that perhaps his team was indeed idiots.

"THRASH, GET MY FUCKING TEQUILA." Xanxus hollered.

Really infuriated now, Squalo yelled again. "VOIII LEVI, GO TO THE STORAGE AND GET A FUCKING TEQUILA ALREADY! AND SOMEONE ASKS LUSSURIA TO HURRY UP WITH THAT FUCKING STEAK!"

And just as he finished yelling, the communication device just had to beep. All Squalo wanted today was just some peace, but it's obvious that he won't get any today. Annoyed, he stomped towards it and answered it, revealing the caller's face. "VOIII WHAT?"

"Yo Squalo! Rough day, huh?" Yamamoto grinned.

"Tch, you've fucking no idea." Squalo cursed. "So what do you want?"

"I need to borrow Lussuria." Yamamoto said straight to the point.

"What the hell happened?"

"Ah well, we need Lussuria's abilities of healing." Yamamoto explained.

Squalo grimaced clearly annoyed. "I know that! I mean, what the hell happened? Usually when the Vongola requires the Varia's assistance, they request for the entire group, not a specific member, so what the hell happened?"

"Dokuro is missing." Yamamoto said and that caught his attention and perhaps everyone else in the Varia mansion as well.

The relationship between Chrome and the Varia had always been rather… strange. While they never once show outwardly that they cared, it was rather obvious that they actually did. They showed care in the Varia's way, by pretending not to be overly concern, allowing her to go beyond her limits whenever she was on a mission with them, but they would _always_ watch her back silently.

They were also not very polite with her either. Xanxus always cursed in front of her, Levi glared at her all the time out of jealousy, Belphegor flirted with her in a_ creepy_ way, Mammon only associated with her when money was involve while Lussuria practically tainted her innocence by rambling to her how much he loved _naked dead bodies_. Only Squalo was rather professional with her but occasionally he would curse as well. In other words, their behaviour towards her was downright_ rude_ and definitely _not_ gentlemanly but despite that, she accepted them. The Varia had always received numerous amount of complaints whenever it came to providing hospitality but none came from her. Chrome had always accepted them for _who they are,_ never once expecting them to change their ways in front of her and for that she gained their respect.

So now hearing that one of the few women that had actually gained their respect was now missing, it definitely caught their attention. Knowing that the rest wanted to listen as well, Squalo plugged in the wire to enlarge the screen so that Yamamoto's face could be seen by everyone.

"Explain." He then said.

Yamamoto then proceeded to explain the current situation to them and the Varia intently listened. Once he was done, all eyes were on him as silence consumed the room.

"So you need Lussuria's sun flames to quicken Shoichi's treatment." Squalo murmured and Yamamoto nodded.

"Voi Xanxus, permission for Lussuria to go?"

"Tch, permission given thrash." Xanxus scowled at him before glaring at the screen again.

"Voi, do you need any of our help other than Lussuria?" Squalo then asked.

"For now, not really. We've no idea how things will turn out, but if we do need the Varia's help in the future, will you guys be willing to assist?" Yamamoto eyed all of the Varia.

"Shishishi, the prince will help the princess in need~"

"Although I won't earn any money but since it involves the arcobalenos, I'll help."

"Anything for Chrome-chan~"

"I'll go if boss agrees to help as well."

"Voi. Chrome Dokuro has been a great help to us during missions. We'll definitely provide our help when needed, if Xanxus is agreeable. If not, I'll fucking go myself."

All eyes flickered to Xanxus as he frowned at the screen clearly irritated. "Fuck, whatever. I owe that Dokuro anyway so if the Vongola needs help, the Varia will assist. Lussuria will be sent there as quickly as possible right after he gives me my fucking steak."

"Thank you." Yamamoto smiled and the communication device ended there and then.

Lussuria then straightaway rushed towards kitchen wanting to complete making the steak as soon as possible so that he could begin his mission quickly while the rest of the Varia merely stared at each other. For once the Varia mansion was silent, something Squalo would love to experience_ before_ this news came about because now this time to Squalo, this silent was_ everything else_ but peaceful.

**xXXxXXxXXxXXxXXx**

He knew he was one who rarely gets angry. He was an ongoing guy, extra friendly and was always smiling although sometimes rather freakily. Perhaps that time when he was still that crazy dude who wanted to conquer the world, he would get angry once in a while, but the point was _now,_ Byakuran never gets angry… except now. And the reason being? Someone added salt onto his beloved marshmallows. Someone actually had the courage to add salt on the love of his life and that someone_ must pay._

"Yuni-chan!" He purposely wailed loudly and rushed towards the Sky Arcobaleno knowing that the person he was looking for would always be beside her.

"Yes, Byakuran?" Yuni smiled. Even though she was used to his antics by now, she was still amused. It was a different story for the man standing beside her though. Just by hearing his voice, Gamma twitched.

Pouting slightly, Byakuran held both of Yuni's hands and sighed dramatically. "Some mean person added salt onto my sweet marshmallows and I'm so hurt right now."

Yuni pulled away one of her hands from him and patted his head. "Don't be sad. We can always get you new marshmallows." She smiled while patting his head adoringly and once again beside her, Gamma twitched.

"Princess, you shouldn't pamper him too much. He is older than you!" Gamma frowned, crossing his arms in annoyance.

Yuni chuckled. "But Byakuran loves Marshmallows so much. He must be sad that someone tainted his marshmallows."

"I'm really miserable right now." Byakuran sighed dejectedly.

"Tch, childish." Gamma added.

"Said the one that added salt onto my marshmallows." Byakuran sneered.

Gamma's eyes widened. "You can't accuse me without evidence!"

"I know it's you. You stole my chocolate liquor last time so that I can't put them on my marshmallows!"

"You should be thankful for that." Gamma scoffed. "Eating marshmallows coated with chocolate liquor every single day is not good for your health. I'm saving you from diabetes."

"Oh thank you _very much._" Byakuran added sarcastically glaring at the blonde who didn't hesitate to glare back. Yuni could only sigh. Tension was definitely rising and who knows what could happen if Kikyo didn't appear to send a message.

"Byakuran, Yamamoto Takeshi is on the line requesting to talk to you immediately." Kikyo told the marshmallow lover.

Hearing this, Byakuran stopped glaring immediately. He smiled sheepishly at Yuni, glared at Gamma again and then walked off to his room to answer the call. Pressing the button, a wide screen appeared before him revealing Yamamoto's cheerful face.

"Yo!" Yamamoto greeted. "Rough day as well huh?" He asked noticing Byakuran's slight scowl.

"Yea. Someone added salt onto my marshmallows!" Byakuran complained.

"Ouch, that must suck."

"_It is,_" Byakuran expressed dramatically, "Anyway, what's up? It's rare for the Vongola to call."

"About that…" Yamamoto sighed, "We need Daisy."

"Daisy?"

"Yes Daisy. We need his sun flames." Yamamoto told him. He then proceeded to explain the reason why they needed extra Sun flames as well as the current situation they were facing, about Chrome, about the Arcobalenos and the Purifying Flames. Once Yamamoto was done, Byakuran was almost scowling.

"I see." Byakuran murmured. "Very well, I will send Daisy right away."

"Seriously?" Yamamoto asked.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi and the Vongola have helped us a lot, so it's time to return the kindness ne?" Byakuran grinned but his expression turned serious again soon after. "Also, since it involves the Arcobalenos, it involves Yuni as well. Millefiore will definitely assist then."

"I understand. Thanks a lot, Byakuran. We really appreciate it." Yamamoto smiled.

"Beep us when you need more help. We'll be more than willing to provide." Byakuran grinned. "See ya!"

Yamamoto thanked him once again and the call then ended. Once the screen disappeared, Byakuran stood up and headed out of his room searching for the Sun Flame user.

"Daisyyyyyy~" He called playfully and almost immediately, the shy male appeared before him looking dead as always.

"Y-Yes, Byakuran?"

"I need you to go to the Vongola Mansion straightaway. They need your assistance!" Byakuran told him.

Daisy nodded and made his way back to his room to prepare straightaway.

"And oh Daisy!" He called out again. Daisy turned and looked at him with a confused expression. "When you get back, buy lots and lots of marshmallows okay because we'll need it!" He grinned. Daisy nodded and smiled before rushing once again. Once Daisy was out of sight, his grin disappeared as his expression turned grim. "Oh, we'll really need of marshmallows all right," He murmured, "Since things are definitely going to turn serious _soon_…"

**xXXxXXxXXxXXx**

Kokuyo Land was never a lively place. With most part of the building shattered, lights broken and fallen debris everywhere, the place seemed more eerie than lively. However, it didn't mind the occupants one bit. They were so used to this run down place that after a while, they no longer gave a damn if they heard creepy creaks or felt sudden chills. It wasn't like their leader, Rokudo Mukuro, wasn't trying to make things better. After Kokuyo willingly allied themselves with the Vongola thanks to Chrome's persuasion, both Chrome and Mukuro had been having talks with Sawada Tsunayoshi about renovating this entire place.

Talking about Chrome and Mukuro, they did realize that the two of them were missing. Chrome hadn't been visiting for a while and Rokudo Mukuro had suddenly rushed off frantically from his last mission as if someone had died.

"I wonder what had happened. Master practically rushed off to the Vongola Mansion right after his mission. Something must have happen," Fran murmured in his relatively monotonous voice.

"That stupid girl Chrome hasn't been visiting either, byon!" Ken snarled in irritation but none flinched because everyone in Kokuyo now knew about his obvious crush on the said girl, even when he kept on denying it again and again.

Chikusa adjusted his glasses and added his input. "Do you think it's connected?"

"What? Chrome not coming anymore and Mukuro-chan frantic behavior just now?" M.M inquired. Chikusa nodded.

The woman sighed. Even though she self proclaimed that she hated Chrome, the truth was, she was worried at heart. Yes last time she did _despised_ her, but now the feelings of hate were long gone. She hated her once because that Chrome was pathetic, but now she was _everything else_ but pathetic. Her illusions were on par with Mukuro, her combats skills had greatly improve as well, and even though she was still shy and blushed a lot, she knew when to be firm while retaining her soft personality. Her pride hated to admit it, but Chrome had grown into a woman that she could respect and even admire. Now, she couldn't help but to have this bad feeling that something terrible had happened. Her woman's intuition were sensitive, but it had_ never_ been wrong.

Her chain of thoughts were broken by the monotonous voice that called out for all of them. "Yamamoto Takeshi of the Vongola is on the line." Fran announced.

The Kokuyo Gang stared at the solemn face of the Vongola Rain Guardian on the screen. "Hey." He greeted with a smile but to them, it looked force.

"It's about that stupid woman, right? Chrome, I mean." M.M blurted. She was surprised by her own bluntness but heck, her woman's intuition was really tingling.

Yamamoto looked genuinely surprised at first but his expression turned serious again soon after."Yea..." He grimly said.

"What happened, byon?" Ken practically snarled at him.

Yamamoto proceeded to explain their current situation, that Chrome was attacked and perhaps targeted because of a certain flame she possessed. He told them about the purifying flames, about Irie Shoichi, Chrome being missing and the prospect that she was sent to another time. Once he was done, he was met with the scowls from Ken and M.M while Chikusa and Fran remained impassive as always.

"So that's why master had been frantic ever since he received the call from Vongola Tenth in the last mission." Fran said.

Yamamoto nodded. "Rokudo Mukuro is here right now, helping out whatever he could. He's too frantic that he forgets to inform you guys perhaps. Anyway, I'm here because I need your help. Well, more to M.M and Ken since they have the sun flames, but Chikusa and Fran can help out in other ways."

"What do you want us to do?" M.M asked.

"You and Ken to use Sun Flames to help in Shoichi's recovery. Once he's awake, it'll definitely help us in finding Chrome. Chikusa and Fran can help Mukuro in his research about the purifying Flames." Yamamoto said before he heaved out a sigh. "Will you guys lend us a hand?"

"Are you fucking kidding me by asking us that, byon? Even if you don't request for our help, we won't sit around and do nothing. We'll definitely help out because Chrome is our..."

"...precious friend." Chikusa added.

"Tch, I don't want to admit it," M.M snorted, "But yea, she is... our friend."

Fran didn't say anything but he nodded agreeing in their words.

Yamamoto smiled. He gave them the details and request them to come as soon as possible. A plane in the Vongola base in Japan will take them here. He said goodbye and the call ended. Silence then loomed in the gloomy Kokuyo but none of them uttered a word. They stared at each other and with firm a nod, they understood. Without wasting any time, they straightaway headed out with a firm resolve... to save their friend.

* * *

**xXXxXXxXXxXXx**

Honestly, following Alaude around all day wasn't something she would label as fun. He barely talked, thus most of the times they were surrounded by silence. She wasn't much of a talker herself; therefore normally she enjoyed silence, but this time wasn't _normally_. Unlike other times where silence could be comforting, take the walk with Giotto for example, this silence was_ suffocating._ Even when he actually speaks, it was more of a demand than a conversation like how he had asked her to help him carry some papers and whenever he opened his mouth to speak, Chrome would flinch. She wondered if she was just afraid of him or she was just easily startled but whatever it was, she had already lost count in how many times she had flinched whenever he spoke because it was always _sudden._

Now as she walked behind him in silence yet again, she wondered where he was taking her this time. "Where are we going?" She decided to ask.

"Interrogation room. To try to get a confession." He murmured.

Chrome meekly nodded and followed him until they were outside a small room with a big glass window that allowed one to see what's inside. She saw a rugged looking man with obsidian eyes that to her was cold and empty. His hair was a mess, his two hands were cuffed together and from his relatively empty black eyes, she could infer that this man didn't give a damn. Two officers stood guard beside him observing him closely to ensure that the man wouldn't do anything funny as they waited for Alaude's arrival.

"Stay here and watch. I trust that you won't run away." Alaude said as he looked straight into her eyes.

"O-Okay." She answered meeting his gaze and believing that she wouldn't run, Alaude entered the room, leaving Chrome outside to watch and listen.

From outside, she could hear the interrogation. She learned that the man they are currently investigating is Alexander Babare and they found evidence that he had murdered his wife and all they need now was a confession from him, but that man just wouldn't_ speak_. Chrome watched as they tried different approaches, from the soft approaches to Alaude slamming his hands onto the wooden table, but despite that, the man remained silent. Since Alexander Babare showed no sign of opening his mouth, Alaude had no choice but to stop the interrogation and ordered the two officers to bring him out.

As the man was dragged outside with one officer in front of him while the other behind him, Chrome found herself staring at those black eyes. She couldn't help but to feel afraid because she couldn't see anything in it, as though he was soulless. It was when he walked past her and Chrome accidentally brushed her hand against his arm that something strange happened. Alexander Babare suddenly stopped walking and stared straight at her as though the contact_ shocked_ him. Chrome gulped, but she couldn't look away from him. She noticed that his knees were shaking and those eyes that were empty before was now filled with so many intense emotions; hatred, resentment, anger but most of all guilt.

The next thing she knew, the man was on his knees screaming and wailing in agony but his gaze was still on her.

"I didn't want to it. I didn't mean to do it! But I was so angry, so angry because she betrayed me!" Alexander Babare snarled. "I went back home early from farming that day to surprise her, but… I saw her with another man… on our bed! I love her so much so how could she cheat on me? I punched that man and he ran away. She begged for forgiveness in that sweet voice of hers and she even tried to embrace me, but I was so angry that I put my hands around her small neck and strangle her. It felt so good! I felt so alive and she was smiling as I gripped her neck hard. She struggled against me and it felt great. I felt strong, I felt like I was in control. It really felt so good… until… until she stopped moving and by the time I realized what I've done, she's already… gone."

Chrome stood frozen by his sudden proclamation in front her. The man was breathing heavily right now after his sudden outburst but his gaze was still on her and she could see the whirlpool of emotions in it, but she couldn't say a single word. She didn't know what to say. Did he just confess his crime right in front of her? But why? She was just a stranger…

"So it's a crime of passion." Alaude broke her chain of thoughts as he stood beside her. He signalled the two officers to take Alexander Babare away before his shifted his attention towards her. "Are you all right?" He asked.

She wasn't all right. She was stunned, but of course she wouldn't tell him that so she merely nodded her head.

Alaude grimaced. He didn't believe her one bit but he chose not to pursue it any further. After all, there was a bigger confusion in his head. A man that he had been having trouble getting the truth from had practically confessed out his crime to a complete stranger. And what triggered it? Simply a touch. Just an accidental touch from Chrome and the man suddenly blurted out the truth. It was impossible. There's no way such things was possible unless…

"Touch me." Alaude ordered.

Her eyes widened hearing his request. "W-What?"

"Just do it." He demanded and extended his hand towards her.

Chrome blinked continuously wondering if he was joking, but seeing his serious look, she knew that he wasn't. Slowly, she reached out her hand, grabbed his hand and held it gently. She felt him tense slightly as though afraid of being touch, but slowly he relaxed and they stayed that way for awhile. Not knowing what to do next and whether he wanted her to let go, she ended up standing still as she held his hand. She could feel his pulse from his wrist. It was fast and frantic as though this cold man she was holding was afraid and worried over something. She wondered what could worry the stoic Alaude and if there's anything she could do to help ease it. Hesitantly, she raised his face to meet his gaze only to realize that his eyes were close.

Her touch was gentle and warm that he found himself able to relax and closed his eyes. He waited for something to happen and then a feeling stirred in his heart forcing his eyes to open and stare straight into hers as his mouth opened to say something he didn't expect.

"Do you think my blood thirst will ever disappear?" He suddenly asked as his cold eyes met her confused amethyst one.

"I'm s-sorry?" Chrome murmured wondering if she had heard it right. Did Alaude just ask _her_ if his blood thirst can ever disappear?

Realizing what he had just asked, he pulled his hand back away, shoved it into his pocked and frowned. "I just told you one of my deepest worries."

"W-Why?"

"Because you touch me." Alaude explained. "It happened to Alexander Babare as well. That man secret worry was confessing He didn't want to confess, but after you touch him, he blurted it all out. He blurted the things he had been keeping to himself to _you_."

"B-But why? H-How?" Chrome stuttered in confusion.

"You don't know the reason?" Alaude asked. She shook her head. She didn't know anything. Why from just her touch, they just blurted out their greatest worry? What was going on?

Seeing her current state, Alaude knew that she was confused. This girl didn't even know what she possessed or what she was really capable off and he wondered if he should tell her the truth that she has_ that_ flame. After much thought, he decided to go against it and just tell her something vague. "You just have a unique ability."

Chrome looked at him dumbfound. Whatever questions that were lingering in her mind, his statement definitely didn't answer any of them. She opened her mouth to ask him more but he immediately cut her off before she had a chance.

"There's something I need to do. Go back to my office and rest. We'll talk more when I get back. You know the way there right?" Alaude spoke.

Chrome nodded. "B-But I thought I'm not supposed to leave your sight so you can keep an eye on me?" She asked, confused by the sudden freedom given to her. No, she was currently confused by everything.

"I wanted to keep an eye in case you were an enemy but now I see no reason for that." He stated.

"W-Why?"

"Because now I have a reason to believe that you _really_ _are_ from the future." He told her and walked away leaving Chrome behind more confused than ever.

**xXXxXXxXXxXXx**

The dusty research journal lied in his hand as he stared at it incredulously. After discovering what Chrome really possessed, Alaude had made his way here, _here_ being the secret archives of the CEDEF. The CEDEF building functioned in a way that it's connected to his investigation base; therefore it was easy for him to move around between the two bases. CEDEF was where he held important lots of archives and data and _this_ was one of them.

Staring at the journal entitled "Secret and Rare Flames" in his hands, he opened it and flipped through the pages. He continued flipping and flipping, seeing headings like _'Oath Flame'_ and '_Flame of Night'_ and many other secret and rare flames, but they weren't what he was looking for. He continued flipping through the pages again and again until he finally found it: _The Purifying Flames._

He glanced at the page where it mostly described the purpose and functions of the flames. He read them, his finger not missing any word when he finally reached the last section: _List of Known Users_

Staring at the list intensely, he didn't even hesitate when he took a feather, dipped it in blank ink and without a slight doubt or a pause, he added another name in his curvy handwriting

_Chrome Dokuro._

**xXXxXXxXXxXXx**

Daemon Spade never had things bugging him before. He was rich and coming from a noble family, his worries were a minimal, but now one thing had been bugging him and it was that girl Giotto had brought back. He couldn't understand why he should care in the first place. After all, it was just a random girl Giotto found wounded, but after seeing her in person during that dinner, he knew she was different.

"Don't you think there's something off about that Chrome Dokuro?" He confided in his fiancé who was brushing her hair.

Elena sighed and stopped combing her hair to look at Daemon. "You're talking about this again?"

"It's been bothering me." Daemon frowned.

"You're just thinking too much, Daemon." Elena softly said.

"I can't help it. She's just… different."

Elena frowned this time. "Are you interested in her?"

"Are you jealous?" Daemon chuckled.

"No!" She exclaimed and chose to brush her hair again but Daemon could see that she was pouting.

"I'm not interested in her. I have you after all, E-le-na," he teased making the blonde blushed furiously, "it's just that… her aura is just like _yours._"

Hearing this, her blush completely disappeared. Putting her comb down, she turned around and faced her fiancé again. "You know that's not possible. In each generation, there can only be _one_ who possessed it. Until I bear a child of my own, no one else should have it." She stated. Her voice was calm but Daemon could tell that she was worried as well, but she was hell good at hiding it.

"That is why it's been bothering me, Elena." Daemon murmured. "Because her aura is _exactly_ like yours… when the fact is, the only one who should possess the purifying flames in this generation… is _you_."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** Long delay huh? Sorry. Falling out of the fandom and college has started, so I'm really busy right now. The only reason I'm updating my Naruto's fanfic faster than this is because I already have all the chapters for that typed out, so I just have to edit one chapter per week. However, this is not the case for my KHR fics as I have to think through the story line and write a new chapter again and again, so it takes more time. Updates will no longer be frequent. Really sorry.

Un-beta'ed.

I do not own KHR

* * *

Giotto was secretly getting anxious. Perhaps the word secretly was a lie since he was obviously getting anxious. He could tell that G was staring at him with worry, but he couldn't bother to tell him why. Part of him already knew that G knew what was causing him to feel anxious, but if G was to ask him the reason why he was feeling that way, Giotto wouldn't know what to tell him because he too had no idea why. He just knew that he was anxious because she has not returned…

It had been three days since they went to the village to investigate the attacks by the bandits where they then found that Chrome had fought the bandits and the one who saved her was Alaude. However, in these three days, Giotto didn't receive any single news from Alaude. His cloud guardian never once called him to inform them that Chrome was currently with him. At first, Giotto thought that perhaps Alaude was just giving her time to recuperate before sending her back here himself, but after three days, there was still no sign of Alaude, neither was there any sign of Chrome.

"Can you calm down a bit?" G finally spoke up. He was tired of observing his friend prancing around his office all day, paperwork untouched.

"I am calm," Giotto uttered.

"Yea sure you are," G snorted.

"Don't I look calm to you?" His friend stop walking around the room at stared at him.

"Not at all," G honestly said, "Relax will you. Chrome is safe with Alaude. He is a trustworthy guy even when he has trust issues. Remember when he tried to kill us before he joined the Vongola? He thought we were some part of a secret activity group that threatened the peace of the town. It was only after you explained to him that both of you have a common enemy did he stop trying to kill us. You even managed to convince him to join us, even when blood was involved in the convincing process."

"Yes I remembered," Giotto recalled the moment he tried to convince Alaude to join him. It wasn't easy. That man was violent. Giotto remembered getting a few broken bones after the 'convincing' processes and as Giotto remembered how bloodthirsty Alaude really is, he began to get even more anxious.

"Relax Giotto. I don't think Alaude will hurt Chrome."

Well true. Even when Alaude was indeed bloodthirsty, he wouldn't attack without a reason, but Giotto was still anxious. "I know. I just don't understand why he is keeping her for three days without informing me even once."

"You should also know that Alaude is quite secretive." G reminded him.

"But this isn't some classified information. Chrome has been staying here before Alaude suddenly kept her with him. She has been alone with him for three days and counting!"

"Woah, woah, is this jealousy I sense?"

"Jealousy? What?"

"You are acting like an unhappy man due to the fact that she is currently alone with another man, Alaude of all people. If it isn't jealousy, then what is it?"

"Why should I be jealous? Chrome isn't mine. I mean we just get to know each other so we are just friends and she can spend time with any man she likes. I mean, I'm just worried about her safety. It's not like I have a crush on her or anything. Nope, not at all. "

"Wow, look at the calm and collected Giotto getting all defensive over a girl. Yup, you are jealous all right. Imagine if I tell this news to the whole town, I'm pretty sure in a day, thousands of fangirls' heart will be broken."

"G…"

"I'm kidding," G puffed on his cigar, "Look, if you are that anxious, why don't you just go see Alaude yourself? You are the leader of the Vongola. You have the right to enter CEDEF."

Giotto stood still and stared at his friend. His face brightened before he took his famous cloak and left the room without saying anything else. G gaped as his boss disappeared in a blink of an eye before frowning deeply.

"This is what happens when your boss starts to crush on a woman," G grumbled as he attended the paperwork that Giotto ignored, "the next thing I know, I might just have to deal with thousands of broken hearts. Tch, I should ask for a raise."

As he struggled to do the paperwork, G believed that he definitely should.

**xXXxXXxXXxXXxXXxXXxXXxXXx**

Chrome wondered how in the world did she suddenly somehow became Alaude's personal assistant. Ever since he ordered her to follow her around, he had been giving her lots of tasks, mostly paperwork and sometimes to even make him coffee. She cleared his desks, his files, took messages for him, followed him around, and reminded him of his schedule and more. While she was glad that she actually had something to do instead of sitting down doing nothing and just feeling anxious because she was stuck in the past, she really wondered how in the world did he managed to find so many things for her to do in just a span of a few days. If she was late by a few minutes, he would glare and she really meant glare; an intense stare that could make anyone jump out of the building than being eaten by his eyes.

Clearing his now messy desk which she had just cleared few hours ago, Chrome sighed and wondered why Alaude was such a scary boss. As she was clearing, the door of his office suddenly swung open. Startled by the intrusion and being her sometimes clumsy self, Chrome fell, bringing down some of the documents with her. She was pretty sure Alaude would kill her now.

"Are you all right?" his cold voice resonated into her ears.

Chrome blushed and nodded as she attempted to get up. Alaude offered his hand and shyly, she accepted it and stood up. "S-Sorry. I'll clear this up."

Alaude stared at the mess before looking at her. His face was impassive, but his eyes were intense. Chrome gulped. She prayed that if she was going to get kill, please let it not be by the hand of this man. However, to her surprise, Alaude suddenly took her hand and stared at it. Apparently, he had noticed a cut and saying nothing else, he took out a band aid and wrap her palms gently.

"Go rest. I'll clear this up later." He said and he then left the room.

Chrome blinked. She could never read the impassive man well. Just like Hibari, Alaude too was rather secretive. One could never tell what he was really thinking, or if he was even thinking about anything. Similar to Hibari, he could be extremely scary. However, just like Hibari, Alaude could also be rather kind in his own way.

Staring at her now bandaged palm, Chrome let out a small smile. Yup, Alaude was definitely a scary man, but throughout her stay with him, he never once harmed her in any way. It made her curse herself for thinking negatively about this man, because yes, Alaude was indeed scary but Alaude was also kind.

And because of those amount of kindness he showed to her, Chrome thought perhaps she should return the favour, and she could start by clearing this office.

**xXXxXXxXXxXXxXXxXXxXXxXXxXXx XXxXXxXXx**

The shy, weird and somewhat gentle woman who possessed the purifying flames actually made a pretty good assistance. She never once complained when he assigned tasks to her. Some of the tasks he gave her could be physically impossible for a lady, but she did it anyway. He noticed that despite her fragile apperance, she was actually strong and possessed a certain amount of physical strength that exceeded the normal female, which was why he never felt guilty when he gave her "physically impossible" tasks.

She could be a little bit clumsy, but only when she was tired. When she was alert, she was very efficient, doing her tasks well and professionally. She also made good coffee, definitely better than the one he made on his own, thus he always forced her to make him coffee every day. He also realized that perhaps he had overworked her too much, hence the little clumsy accident just now. Alaude might be a cold man, but he knew the limits of the human body. Chrome needed rest so he gave it to her.

Now as he sat in his other office in the CEDEF headquarters, Alaude wondered what he should do with her. He had been keeping her for three days without him even realizing it, and honestly, he was getting used to her presence around. Of course he knew he couldn't keep her around forever. Giotto would probably wonder about her soon enough and would start searching. He wouldn't be surprised if Giotto already knew that she was with him and would come here to take her back. After all, that's just Giotto. That man cares for nearly everyone.

"Alaude-sama, Giotto is here to see you," one of CEDEF workers appeared and informed him.

Speaking of the devil, though he wasn't actually one. Giotto had arrived sooner than he thought he would. Alaude told the worker to bring him in and minutes later, the calm and collected Giotto entered his office with that kind expression of his.

"It's been a while, Alaude," he smiled.

"Yea." Alaude answered with a glare. "So what do you want?"

"Where's Chrome?" Giotto asked without beating round the bush.

Alaude smirked. "In the office of my other building. Most probably resting."

"She has been with you all along and you never once thought of informing me?" Giotto sighed.

"I know I don't have too because you'd probably come here yourself to bring her back."

True enough. He most probably would and he already did, like now. Giotto sighed. Sometimes he wondered if he was that easy to read. "So I can bring her back, right?"

"Yes." Alaude stated though Giotto noticed the slight hesitation in his voice and strangely he didn't like that fact.

"I'll go pick her up then," Giotto then said.

"Wait," Alaude stopped him and Giotto turned around, looking at his cloud guardian once more, "Before you go, I think there is something you must know."

Giotto gave him a quizzical look as Alaude messed up his drawer and took out a black journal. Giotto knew what the journal was. Alaude had shown it to him before since Giotto was the overall in charge of the Vongola, thus he has the right to see everything. However, why did he want to show him the journal again now? If his memory didn't fail him, the journal contains the data of all the secret flames existing in this world and the list of known users possessing those secret flames.

Alaude then handed the book to him. "Flip to the purifying flames section."

Giotto did what he was told and flipped to the section regarding the Purifying Flames. He read through it until he reached the list of users and Giotto immediately froze.

"Why is her name written here?" Giotto asked.

"I wrote it down." Alaude said.

"Why?"

"Because she possesses the Purifying Flames."

"How can it even be possible? There can only be one from each generation."

"I have test it myself, Giotto. She has the flames. She possesses all the traits and qualities of a user. I think you already have a feeling don't you? You just can't find proof yet."

Alaude was right. Giotto had in fact been having this strange feeling when it came to Chrome. There was something about her that he still couldn't comprehend and now Alaude just told him that she possessed the Purifying Flames. Suddenly it all made sense; the strange feelings, her ability to read his inner most worries and her calming presence. It all made sense, but how could it be possible? There could only be one user who possesses the purifying flames in each generation and if Chrome really had it, that means, there are two now…

"But Elena is the current holder of the flames in this generation. How can there be two? That never happen before…"

"Yes it never happen before, and theoretically it's impossible. The flames can only be passed by inheritance and it strictly will only be given to one. Having two users in one generation is in fact impossible." Alaude told her. "However, it is possible is one of the user_ isn't_ from our time."

"What?"

"Chrome Dokuro told me something interesting. It was hard to believe at first, but now it makes sense as to why there are two users."

"And what is this interesting thing she told you?"

"She said she is not from our time." Alaude uttered and Giotto stared at him in disbelief, "Chrome Dokuro isn't from our time, Giotto. She's from the future."

Giotto stood frozen. He didn't move. He didn't utter a single word. He just stared at Alaude still trying process what his Cloud Guardian had just said. Chrome wasn't from this time. She's from the future. _The future._ Giotto still found that hard to believe. Is that even possible? Time-travelling? Does that even exist? He knew anything was possible in this world, but time travelling? To him, it was still a little too far fetch.

"Time travelling may not exist now," Alaude murmured as if knowing Giotto's doubt, "but it doesn't mean that it does not exist in the future. The possibility of her travelling to past from the future are higher than the possibility of us going to the future. It's possible, Giotto."

"How far?" Giotto finally managed to say.

"400 years from now."

Wow, that was something. Shocked, Giotto found a chair and sat down. 400 years in the future? That was definitely massive. He suddenly felt so… _old._ He massaged his head which was having a headache now due to the sudden news. You couldn't blame him. He just found out that the girl he saved from the dump site was actually from the future. Giotto felt like this was all some kind of fantasy, or a dream. It felt so unreal, yet he also knew that it was as contradictory that sounded.

"Why is she sent here then?"

"I don't know. I didn't ask." Alaude nonchalantly said.

"Why didn't you?"

"Because that's your job."

Giotto sighed and stood up. "She's in your office, right?"

Alaude nodded and watched as the Vongola 1st prepared to leave. "What are you going to say to her?"

Giotto thought about it and frowned. "I have no idea Alaude. I have no idea."

Giotto then left the room still thinking about what he was going to say to her. He really had no idea. Most probably he should just act normal, which he would, but to find out that the girl he was crushing on was from a future was really a hard blow. Yes, he was admitting the fact that he was indeed crushing on her. It's just a crush. Not love. Just a crush. However, now, it feels like that crush was shattered because she was from the future. 400 years in the future! He was pretty sure he was dead by then.

Giotto sighed as he headed towards the detective headquarters and walked towards Alaude's office. As he arrived, he noticed that the door was slightly ajar and he heard a soft humming coming from the inside. He recognized that voice. Even though he only recently got to know her, he had already remembered her soothing voice.

Giotto didn't knock and just entered the room. The girl immediately stopped humming and went into a defensive stance, fearing that it was some intruder. Honestly, Giotto was impressed and he smiled.

"Giotto-san?" Chrome blinked, surprised by the Vongola's 1st sudden appearance.

"Chrome, it's been a while. Are you all right?" He kindly asked.

"Y-Yes I'm fine," she blushed, "why are you here?"

"To bring you back. You didn't return from visiting the town. I was worried." He gazed at her with concern in his eyes.

Again she blushed at the way he was looking at her. "S-Sorry, I didn't mean too."

"It's fine," Giotto smiled and looked around, "What are you doing?"

"Well, I'm clearing up this office which I accidentally made a mess off…"

"I see. Need some help?" He smiled again.

"N-No, you don't have to trouble yourself."

"I insist," Giotto said, "Alaude is my friend as well. It's not wrong for me to help clean up his office right?"

Chrome shook her head and didn't argue. She had no idea how to argue in fact. At times, she could be demanding and give out orders. At times though, her meek personality gained control again, like now. Chrome allowed Giotto to help out and together, the two cleared the office. By working together, they completed the task much faster much to their relieve. Once they were done, they sat on the couch to rest for a while before Giotto spoke again.

"We should go back soon." Giotto said.

"Y-Yea."

He stood up and smiled, extending his hand out to her. Again, she blushed and took it. The walk back to the mansion was quiet. He placed his two hands in his pocket and she timidly walked besides him. Giotto didn't speak and neither did she. His pace was slow and his gaze was always forward seemingly thinking about something. She wondered what was on his mind, and she couldn't help but to worry if there was something bothering him. If possible, she wanted to help. Giotto had been extremely nice to her after all.

Without realizing it, they already made it to the mansion. It seemed fast strangely even though none of them spoke. As Giotto made his way to his office, Chrome made her way to her given room. Before they split up though, they turned to face each other.

"You should wash up and rest. I believe you are tired," Giotto gently told her.

"Yea. T-Thank you," she blushed. Giotto smiled and turned to walk away, but Chrome called him out again all of a sudden. "Wait!"

He gave her a curious look and once again she blushed as she shifted her feet uncomfortably. "U-Umm, is there something bothering you?"

"Why do you ask?" Giotto blinked.

"Well, because you seem different. Your aura seems different. There's something on your mind."

He felt his heart raced knowing that she was worried about him. He ended pushing the thoughts away and smiled, fighting down a blush. "I'm fine, Chrome. Now, go rest okay?"

Chrome didn't believe him, but she didn't have the courage to argue either, hence she timidly nodded and made her way to her room. Giotto watched her leave, and he continued to watch her again and again. Even when he had been thinking during their journey back here, Giotto was still confused. He has a crush on this woman who was apparently from the future. Alaude had asked what he was going to say to her and honestly, even now, Giotto had no idea.

For the first time in his life, Giotto has no idea how to deal with this.

**xXXxXXxXXxXXxXXxXXxXXx**

"Now that everyone is here, we can begin to the extreme!" Ryohei exclaimed as he looked at all the Sun Flames users Yamamoto had successfully called.

Ken, M.M, Daisy and Lussuria gave each other a glance before glancing at the extreme Sun Guardian. Lussuria who was already used to healing unleashed his Serenity Peacock to help out the healing process.

"I think the other three are not used to healing, Ryohei-kun, so you should teach them," Lussuria winked.

Ryohei shuddered before looking at the other three. Lussuria was right. M.M and Ken never used their sun flames for healing before. They were more of the combat type, hence healing had never been their forte. Daisy though was more used to regenerating himself than others, so he might need to get used to healing the rest. Ryohei knew that he needed to teach them, but for the sake of Shoichi and to save Chrome, he was willing too.

"All right! Let's do this! In order to heal, you have to use the inner sun flames!" Ryohei exclaimed.

"The what?" M.M blinked.

"Like this!" Ryohei tried to show them, but since his ability to teach was close to zero, none of them could really understand.

"I don't get it, byon!" Ken snarled.

Lussuria sighed knowing that if he waited for Ryohei to teach them, he doubted they could ever understand. Hence, willingly, he took over and showed them the simple method of releasing their inner flame, the calm and healing Sun Flames.

"Basically, you have to keep yourself calm. Flames follow the user's mood. If you're angry, the flame will be sharper and it will not be soothing one bit. To have a smooth healing process, all the healers must relatively keep calm so that their flames are gentle." Lussuria explained.

"I see." M,M murmured in understanding. "Can you keep calm, Ken?"

"Of course I can, byon!" Ken exclaimed with determination.

Daisy just sighed and followed the lead.

"All right Lets begin!" Ryohei exclaimed and the five of them wasted no time and began their healing process on Irie Shoichi, the one who has a pivotal role in order to save one Chrome Dokuro.

**xXXxXXxXXxXXxXXxXxxXXxXXxXXx **

Hibari Kyouya was currently extremely annoyed. After spending some time in the same room with Rokudo Mukuro, his patience had been running thin. In order to control his temper, he had went out of the conference room and decided to search for information regarding the Purifying Flames in the archives instead, where the old records lies. At first, it was all good. He had his peace and he was happy, but no, Rokudo Mukuro just had to spoil his mood again.

However this time, Rokudo Mukuro wasn't there to annoy him, but he sent a disciple of his to annoy him. In an act of good will, that's what Mukuro says but Hibari feels that it's bullshit actually. In an act of 'good will', Rokudo Mukuro sent out the benevolent Fran to help him out while Chikusa helped out Mukuro.

Mukuro was smart. Hibari couldn't deny it. It was smart of him to ask the silent Chikusa to help himself while he sent out Fran to help out the bitter skylark. Mukuro knew Hibari loved quiet, hence he purposely didn't send out Chikusa to him, and instead gave him Fran. Hibari didn't really hate Fran. In fact usually, he could tolerate Fran. However at times, Fran could be really annoying when he started saying 'Master asks me to do this, master says I can't do this, master didn't ask me to do this, master says I shouldn't overwork etc etc.' Hibari had this gut feeling that the only purpose Mukuro sent Fran out to help him gather data was to just piss him off. Didn't that bastard already know that he, the great Hibari Kyouya, prefers to work alone?

Hibari grimaced and tried to ignore the young illusionist as he flipped through some old archives. Fran though was messing up some boxes, throwing out most of the content on the floor. He wondered if they were ever going to find some information regarding the flames like this. He saw Fran picking up an old black journal, but ignored it not wanting to bother the green haired illusionist. Fran was strangely quiet after his 'Master doesn't allow me to…' speech and honestly, Hibari was more than glad to let the silent linger.

Even though he could be playful, Fran was actually quite serious in finding Chrome. Chrome was like a big sister to him and he practically enjoyed it a lot whenever she gave him a peck on his cheek. He'll be damn if they couldn't save her. He was used to having her around him in Kokuyo over the years that it felt weird if she was no longer there. So he found this strange black journal and his instincts told him he should read it. He did and he saw names of numerous flames that he didn't even know existed and then something caught his eye.

"Why is Chrome's name written here?" Fran blinked and mumbled monotonously.

Hearing Fran's statement, Hibari immediately put down the documents he was reading and snatched the journal away from the green haired illusionist. Fran grumbled something about him being rude and lacking manners, and usually Hibari would have hit him already, but now his attention was on this strange journal.

Hibari examined the book and realized that it belonged to the first leader of CEDEF, Alaude aka the first Vongola Cloud Guardian. He flipped the book opened and saw the name of strange flames. The ones he found familiar were the Flames of Night and the Oath Flames which the Vongola had encountered. Hibari realized that this journal contained the information of all the secret flames in existence and he wondered why this journal was locked here in the archives when it could definitely be used for research. Pushing the thought away, Hibari continued flipping until he saw the heading 'Purifying Flames.' Wasting no time, he began reading.

_Flame: Purifying Flames_

_Type: Rare._

_Appearance: White and pure._

_Details: __The flame that is known to be the purest of all flames, the purpose of the purifying flames is to heal and purify. Other than the ability to use the functionsof the other flames, the purifying flames can heal the soul of one, eliminating the burdens of one or remove a dark curse. Due to the flame calming aura, those who possessed the flames are known to be gentle and kind. The presence of the user will be soothing that those around her/him will find them comforting. The flame though is extremely rare as it can only be inherited and only one from each generation is known to have it. However, due to its ability to heal everything or remove a curse, many users were killed as they were deemed as a threat especially to those who seek power._

Hibari continued reading until he reached the list of known users. He saw the name Elena and he was surprised that she actually possessed the flames. However, what shocked him the most was the name that appeared _after_ Elena.

_Chrome Dokuro_

Hibari blinked. If he read the first page correctly, this journal was written by the first Cloud Guardian, hence it should be written around 400 years ago. So… why was Chrome's name in this book? She wasn't even born 400 years ago! Unless…

Hibari's eyes widened. It all made sense now. Chrome was sent to the past and her name was written here, a journal that was written 400 years ago. It could only mean one thing…

Snapping the book shut, Hibari called out Hibird and instructed it. Fran watched the Cloud guardian wondering if he had lost his mind, but decided not to comment anything and just watched. Receiving its master's instruction, Hibird flew to the medical room where Ryohei and the rest of the healers were.

"Hibari! Hibari! Annoucement! Announcement! Main Hall! Main Hall!" it chirped and the healers stared at each other in confusion, but Ryohei understood the message.

"We need to go to the main hall. Let's stop the healing process for a while."

The rest was still confused, but listened anyway as they made their way to the main hall.

Hibird then flew towards the laboratory where Gokudera and Spanner were in still trying to invent the new time capsule. Hibird repeated the same message and Spanner blinked, while Gokudera put down his tools.

"Let's go. Hibari has an announcement. I think he discovered something."

Hibird then headed towards the conference room where it chirped the message to Rokudo Mukuto and Sawada Iemitu as well as to anyone else who were there. It then flew to the main hall where Sawada Tsunayoshi and Yamato Takeshi were at, discussing some plans. It chirped the same message again to them.

"Announcement?" Yamamoto blinked. "Did he found something?"

"Perhaps so," Tsuna murmured feeling some hope returning to him.

Minutes later, everyone had gathered in the main hall and all of their attention were now on Hibari who stood in front of them, still holding the black journal.

"I've discovered which time Chrome was sent too." Hibari announced.

"Where?!" Tsunade immediately asked, not wanting to waste time. He finally found the era Chrome was in. They could finally save her! Staring at all of them in the main hall, Hibari then gave them the piece of news.

"400 years ago. Chrome Dokuro… is currently in the era of Vongola the First."


End file.
